Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his intent to enhance bilateral relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in an article ahead of his planned visit to the DPRK, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday.

In the article published by the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the DPRK, Putin said Russia and the DPRK “will put the bilateral cooperation onto a higher level with our joint efforts and this will contribute to developing reciprocal and equal cooperation between the two countries,” according to the KCNA, which released the full text of the article.

Putin said Russia will invariably support the DPRK’s fight to defend its freedom, sovereignty and the rights to choose its road of independence.

The Russian president also denounced the US-imposed “order based on rules,” calling it “nothing but a world-wide neocolonialist dictatorship based on double standards.”