The chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency traveled to North Korea this week for talks on countering espionage, according to DPRK state media, a visit that an expert called a telltale sign of preparations for Vladimir Putin to visit Pyongyang in the coming months.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, arrived in Pyongyang on Monday and held talks with the DPRK’s minister of state security Ri Chang Dae before departing on Wednesday, the party daily Rodong Sinmun reported.