Russia’s ambassador to North Korea said his embassy in Pyongyang could expand in the near future as the two countries increase cooperation, in what an expert called an attempt to show to the rest of the world that Moscow is forging an anti-Western bloc.

“As soon as there is an opportunity to do it, we will bring the number of the embassy staff in full compliance with the personnel chart,” Alexander Matsegora said in an interview with the Russian state-affiliated newspaper Izvestia on Wednesday.