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Putin gifts luxury Aurus car to North Korea's Kim

Getty Images Russian Aurus car outside Great Hall of the People in Beijing, ChinaGetty Images
The carmaker's website describes the Aurus as Russia's first full-size luxury sedan

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a luxury Russian-made car.

Pyongyang's state media said the limousine was delivered to Mr Kim's top aides on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the gift, saying it was an Aurus, a full-sized luxury sedan of the type used by Mr Putin himself.

The two internationally isolated countries have forged close relations since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea is thought to be supplying Russia with artillery, rockets and ballistic missiles for the war, despite international sanctions on both countries. Both sides deny breaching sanctions.

Mr Putin welcomed Mr Kim to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East last September, in what was his first trip abroad in four years.

Reuters Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Kim Jong Un as the two leaders are reunited in a meeting at Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far east, 13 September 2023Reuters
President Putin (left) and Kim Jong Un met in September for their first face-to-face in four years

During that visit, the North Korean leader inspected Mr Putin's own Aurus Senat limousine and was invited to get in the back seat. They also swapped guns as gifts.

Kim Jong-un is believed to be a car enthusiast and to have a collection of luxury foreign vehicles.

Kim's sister Yo Jong said the "gift serves as a clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the top leaders" of the two countries, in remarks quoted by North Korean state news agency KCNA.

But South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the gift breached UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea, which prohibit supplies of certain categories of vehicle including luxury cars.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says that while the two leaders' personal relationship is hardly a bromance - unlike that between Mr Kim and former US President Donald Trump - they both see the benefits of closer ties.

Both Russia and North Korea have indicated that Mr Putin will visit Pyongyang in the near future.