North Korean defense minister Hyon Yong Chol met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday,North Korean state media said Sunday, in a development experts say is a further sign of closer ties between North Korea and Russia.

Hyon, North Korea’s Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, was in Moscow at an event congratulating Marshal Dmitri Yazov, former Soviet minister of defense, for his 90th birthday.

North Korean state print media simply reported that “The president had a friendly talk with Hyon Yong Chol,” while North Korea state television reported that Hyon sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s greetings to