PYONGYANG, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on Saturday sent New Year greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim extended "the warmest and sincerest greeting of best wishes" to Putin and the government and people of Russia on the occasion of the New Year 2026, said the report.

The top leader said that he and the DPRK government and people will always be with Putin and the Russian people, it said.

The year 2025, "filled with immortal events to be eternally recorded in the history of the relations between the two countries," was a meaningful year, it said. "The DPRK-Russia relations have been further consolidated into the sincerest alliance of sharing blood, life and death in the same trench."

Today's DPRK-Russia alliance, which has been verified thoroughly in the grave tempest of history, is a precious common asset to be carried forward forever, it said.

The KCNA reported on Thursday that Kim received a message of greeting from Putin on Dec. 18. The message said that the past year "was of special significance in the relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang."

The entry of soldiers of the Korean People's Army into the battles in Russia's Kursk region and the subsequent activities of the engineers' army unit in Russia clearly proved the invincible friendship and militant fraternity between Russia and the DPRK, it said. ■