Russia plans to bankroll films glorifying North Korean soldiers for liberating the Kursk region, official documents show, in a move described by an expert as Moscow’s effort to placate Pyongyang after tensions between the allies surfaced on the battlefield earlier this year.

The plan, annotated in the Russian culture minister’s October decree that approved state funding for  “priority themes” in next year’s film projects, largely focused on promoting patriotism, traditional values and Russia’s heroic role on the global stage.

The document lists the “courage and bravery of DPRK servicemen in the liberation of Kursk Oblast” as one of the approved