Last week the Kremlin said that Kim Jong Un would travel to Russia this month, announcing the first Russia-North Korea summit since Kim came to power in 2011.

The announcement of the upcoming summit comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing for a deal with Kim that would bring an end to nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Two earlier summits between Kim and Trump failed to reach an agreement on a denuclearisation deal. Trump administration officials have floated the possibility of a third summit.

The Kremlin gave no further details of the summit between Putin and Kim in a statement on its website, but Moscow has been saying for months that it was working on such a meeting.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun was due in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday to meet Russian officials to discuss ways to advance a "final, fully verified denuclearisation of North Korea," Washington said on Tuesday.

The United States in March imposed a new round of sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, following the collapse of talks between Trump and Kim in February.