Russia and North Korea held a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the physical joining of the first road bridge linking the two countries across the Tumen River, which forms their shared border, with the crossing set to open for traffic this summer. Moscow's foreign ministry described the milestone as a "landmark stage in Russian–Korean relations," saying the bridge — designed to handle up to 300 vehicles and 2,850 people per day — would boost trade, economic, and humanitarian ties between Russia's Far East and the isolated North. The development underscores the deepening partnership between the two heavily sanctioned states since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has seen Pyongyang supply troops and military support to Moscow and prompted South Korea to warn that Russian and Chinese backing is helping revive the North Korean economy.