He also raised the importance of the two countries having trilateral economic cooperation with North Korea as a way to secure and cement peace between the two Koreas.

"The result of the inter-Korean summit needs to lead to three-way cooperative projects of South and North Korea and Russia," Putin was quoted as saying. "If Russia's railway, gas and electricity are connected to Siberia via the Korean Peninsula, they will help bring peace and stability on the peninsula."

Moon took the comment affirmatively, adding, "I would like the three countries to start joint research into (possible) three-nation cooperative projects," according to his spokesman Kim.

The spokesman said "the two leaders formed a common understanding that such trilateral cooperation could help build a security regime for Northeast Asia, which again needs to be expanded as a multilateral security system."

During the phone conversation, Putin also invited Moon to visit Moscow in June, the spokesman added.

Moon and Kim agreed during the third inter-Korean summit held on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom last week that they will replace a Korean War truce with a peace treaty and work toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, pledges which, if they come true, would fundamentally resolve deep-rooted security issues in the region.

The Kremlin also issued its press release on the Moon-Putin talks, saying, "President Moon gave a detailed briefing on the result of the talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom."

The presidents "positively" assessed the agreement from the inter-Korean summit known as the Panmunjom Declaration and gave their attention to the commitment in the declaration to attaining the status of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, according to the Russian release.

It also reaffirmed Putin's support for trilateral cooperative infrastructure and energy projects with the two Koreas for the sake of establishing solid cooperation between the South and the North.

The Russian president stressed the importance of all the countries concerned continuing their efforts to resolve security issues on the peninsula in a diplomatic and political manner, it also said. (Yonhap)