News brief

Putin prepares to visit North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on June 18 to deepen trade and security ties with North Korea and to support it against the United States, as he headed to the reclusive nuclear-armed country for the first time in 24 years. The U.S. and its Asian allies are trying to work out just how far Russia will go in support of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose country is the only one to have conducted nuclear weapon tests in the 21st century.

Vladimir Putin is often accused of trying to restore the old Soviet Union. But his meeting with Kim Jong Un in September suggested he might be focusing on restoring ties with like-minded former Soviet allies instead.