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SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will make a state visit to Russia this week for a bilateral summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and meetings with other Russian leaders, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.

The summit will be held in Moscow on Thursday, shortly after Moon arrives there on a three-day visit, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

It will mark Moon's first trip to the Russian capital since taking office in May 2017, as well as the first state visit to Russia by a South Korean president since 1999.

The leaders are widely expected to discuss ways to rid North Korea of its nuclear ambition.

"Russia has been making significant contributions in efforts to denuclearize North Korea while it has also played a significant role in pressuring the North, considering its economic relationship with North Korea," a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters while speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Moon-Putin meeting, the third of its kind, follows two historic inter-Korean summits, held on April 27 and May 26, and a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12.

"President Moon's Russia visit ... will mark an important milestone in efforts to establish a strategic partnership between South Korea and Russia while also strengthening the friendship and trust between the two leaders," Nam Gwan-pyo, a director of the National Security Office, told a press briefing.

"Also, the visit is expected to help promote strategic cooperation between the two countries to establish peace in Northeast Asia amid positive developments in security conditions and efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," the Cheong Wa Dae official added.

Moon and Putin first met in September when the South Korean leader visited Vladivostok to attend the annual Eastern Economic Forum hosted by Russia.

While in Moscow, Moon will also hold meetings with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other ranking officials.

He will also deliver a speech at the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, becoming the first South Korean president to do so, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

He will later head to the southeastern city of Rostov-On-Don to watch the FIFA World Cup match between his country and Mexico before heading back home on Saturday.

A special jet arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang on Tuesday, raising speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may be traveling to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for a third time this year.

According to industry sources, Air Koryo flight 251, an Antonov An-148 jet, arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport at around 10:35 a.m.

A cargo plane also arrived in the Chinese capital from Pyongyang earlier in the day, while security has been tightened around the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that Kim will travel to Beijing on Tuesday to explain the results of his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to Xi.