North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country will always stand with Moscow. 

According to the North’s state Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, Kim sent the message on the occasion of Russia Day, a Russian holiday celebrating the country’s independence.

In the message, Kim extended his congratulations to Putin, calling him his “dearest comrade” and praising their bilateral relations as a “genuine relationship between comrades-in-arms.”

Kim said the North Korea-Russia friendship has been further cemented thanks to the military comradeship the two nations’ troops have forged at the cost of their blood during Russia’s war against Ukraine.

He stressed that he and his country are determined to steadfastly develop bilateral relations between the two nations. 

Kim’s congratulatory message was reportedly delivered by a North Korean ambassador in Russia to the Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday.