Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin dine on crab dumplings, sturgeon and beef

Leaders of Russia and North Korea enjoy lavish meal and toast to each others' nations after talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Vostochny Сosmodrome, in eastern Russia. Sputnik

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un feasted lavishly during an an official dinner, after their talks in the east of Russia on Wednesday.

The leaders were offered a menu including duck and fig salad, crab dumplings, sturgeon and beef with a choice of Russian wines, a Kremlin reporter said.

The menu began with a salad of duck, fig and nectarine followed by Russian "pelmeni" dumplings made with Kamchatka crab and then a White Amur fish soup and a sorbet from sea buckthorn.

For the main course, the pair had a choice of sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes or an entrecote of marbled beef with grilled vegetables.

For dessert, they were offered red bilberries from the taiga (snow forest) with pine nuts and condensed milk. White and red wines from the Divnomorskoye Manor – co-owned by Mr Putin's long-time ally, businessman Gennady Timchenko – were also available.

The leaders held talks at Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome, as Moscow grows increasingly isolated in the West over its offensive in Ukraine.

Mr Putin toasted to the "strengthening of future co-operation" with the secretive nation during the dinner.

Mr Kim proposed a toast to Mr Putin's health and said he was confident the Russian army and people would triumph against "evil".

The food on offer at the summit was in contrast to what is available to the citizens of North Korea, where there is a continuing food crisis.

In February, it was reported that North Korea had cut rations to its soldiers for the first time in more than two decades.

North Korea has over recent decades suffered serious food shortages, including famine in the 1990s, often a result of natural disasters such as floods damaging harvests.