Russia has invited Kim Jong-un to visit the country, becoming the latest major power to seek an audience with the reclusive North Korean leader, the Kremlin confirmed on Monday.

Kim may visit the country during an economic forum held in the far eastern city of Vladivostok in September, said Mr Peskov, a spokesman, adding that “the details and time will be further coordinated through diplomatic channels.”

The invitation to visit was initially floated by Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, who visited Pyongyang last week for the first time since 2009. “Come to Russia. We would be very happy to see you,” Mr Lavrov told Kim on televised footage.

After being viewed for years as the isolated dictator of a pariah regime, Kim’s standing as an international statesman has soared this year after he initiated a diplomatic détente with South Korea in January and allowed athletes from the North to attend the Winter Olympics.

In just over a week he will meet with Donald Trump for a summit in Singapore, marking a political coup as the first North Korean leader ever to meet with a sitting US president.