MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Pyongyang’s official recognition that the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions are part of Russia has reaffirmed the friendship between the DPRK and Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said.

He made the statement at the DPRK embassy in Moscow on the occasion of the 111th anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the DPRK.

According to the deputy minister, the traditions of the friendship now remain as relevant as ever.

"As a clear confirmation of this, Pyongyang supported the special military operation that’s being carried out by Russia, officially recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics and their accession, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, to the Russian Federation, while the North Korean leadership publicly condemned the main instigators of the current conflict: the United States and the collective West," Rudenko said.