Russian strongman Vladimir Putin says President Donald Trump’s decision to meet North Korean despot Kim Jong Un was “brave and mature.”

Putin said he has high hopes for the high-stakes sit-down between the two leaders on June 12 in Singapore.

“I still hope that this meeting — a very brave and mature decision US President Donald Trump has made, to have direct contacts with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — will take place, and we all expect a positive outcome,” he told the China Media Group in an interview published on the Kremlin’s website.

But he added that “it is a pity that our Western partners, the United States and, unfortunately, South Korea have not stopped their military exercises and maneuvers that do nothing to aid de-escalation” of tensions in the Korean peninsula.

Trump initially canceled the summit over what he called the “open hostility” from Pyongyang, but then announced Friday that it was back on after he hosted top Kim aide Kim Yong Chol at the White House.

Putin’s praise for the president comes after he said last month that his own proposed meeting with Trump ran into trouble.

The ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated amid the conflict in Syria and the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK.

Moscow still faces economic sanctions for its annexation of Crimea, its role in the pro-Russian uprising in Ukraine and accusations of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Asked about Moscow’s relations with the West, Putin said he looked forward to “good, positive relations.”

“We are not surprised by any restrictions or sanctions; this does not frighten us and will never force us to abandon our independent, sovereign path of development,” he said. “But we understand that our partners are trying to limit our development by imposing these restrictions and sanctions.”

The sanctions are “futile,” he added, and the “policy primarily hurts those who initiated it. However, I believe that common sense will still prevail.”