Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took turns driving each other around in a Russian-made Aurus limousine on Wednesday, after the Kremlin said Putin had gifted Kim a luxury vehicle.

At a carefully staged public relations event held under tight security, the two leaders used the occasion to show how close their working relationship has become during Putin’s grand visit to Pyongyang, his first in nearly 25 years.

His visit came after the two leaders signed an agreement that included a mutual defense pledge, Russia’s most significant move in Asia in years, which Kim said formed an “alliance.”

Video released by Russian state TV showed Putin sitting in the backseat of a black armoured Aurus car, his official presidential car in Russia, with Kim sitting in the passenger seat.

The car is then shown driving down a road, passing through a carefully maintained park area and then stopping. A Korean man in a suit and white gloves is seen opening the door for Kim and then running to hold the door for Putin.

Putin and Kim are then shown walking and talking together on a path in a wooded area, with two men, presumably translators, walking behind them.

Kim, who is known to be an automobile enthusiast, is shown bringing Putin back.

An aide to Putin said on Wednesday that the Russian leader presented Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limousine as a gift.

Putin gave Kim the first Aurus limousine in February this year, the two countries said at the time, meaning he now has at least two of the vehicles.

The Aurus Senat, a retro-styled version of a Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car and was the car Putin rode in at his recent Kremlin inauguration in May.

When Kim visited eastern Russia in September last year, Putin showed him a car. Kim was sitting next to Putin in that car and it seemed that he was enjoying it.

Kim owns a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles, most likely smuggled in, as United Nations Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.

He has been spotted in a Maybach limousine, several Mercedes, a Rolls Royce Phantom, and a Lexus sports utility vehicle.

Aurus Motors began manufacturing its cars in 2021 in the Tatarstan region of Russia, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from Moscow.

A senior Russian official said last month that Russia would start building Aurus cars at a former Toyota factory in St Petersburg this year.

Russia is looking for ways to use idle car factories after some global automakers withdrew from the Russian market following Putin’s decision to send thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia have caused new car prices to rise sharply and helped Chinese manufacturers increase their market share, while some big-market Russian carmakers have struggled.

According to the Russian analytical agency Autostat, 40 Aurus brand cars have been sold in Russia so far this year.