Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and agreed to boost military cooperation between the two isolated nations.

Axar.az reports that citing AFP, Kim, who met Belousov on Friday, blasted the recent decision by Western powers to permit Kyiv to strike inside Russia with their weapons, saying it constituted a “direct military intervention in the conflict."

“It is an exercise of the right to self-defense for Russia to take resolute action to make the hostile forces pay the price,” Kim was quoted as saying.

Belousov, in a statement, expressed gratitude for the two countries’ deepening bonds and praised North Korea’s “absolutely independent foreign policy.”

Kim said Friday that his government, army, and people would “invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”