President Park Geun-hye and her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday agreed on the importance of continued cooperation between the two nations in efforts for regional peace and stability.

The leaders exchanged congratulatory messages on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Seoul-Moscow diplomatic ties, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Park called South Korea and Russia "mutually beneficial and future-oriented" partners, it said.

She also voiced hope for the expansion of cooperation for peace and prosperity on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

Putin said the neighboring countries have amassed "useful cooperative experience" over the last 25 years.

He expressed confidence that constructive ties between Seoul and Moscow will keep contributing to regional peace and stability, said the ministry.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Russia's top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, traded separate congratulatory messages to mark the anniversary.

Despite such an ostensibly amicable tone, there has been a hiccup in their bilateral ties in recent months.

Park and Putin have not held any one-on-one summits since the Russian president traveled to Seoul in November 2013.

Park has not made a reciprocal trip to Moscow yet. She was invited to a World War II anniversary event held in Moscow in May.

But she did not visit there partly due to the Ukraine crisis, disappointing Russian officials.

She attended a military parade in Beijing in September to mark China's war anniversary.

Bilateral economic cooperation has also shown clear signs of slowing amid Russia's economic woes attributable to Western-led sanctions and a decline in oil prices.

Two-way trade volume tumbled nearly 44 percent to $7.7 billion in the first half of this year from the same period in 2014.

The Trans-Siberian Railway initiative has made little progress, with the trilateral logistics and gas supply projects also involving North Korea in the doldrums.

The chill in South Korea-Russia relations marks a contrast to Russia's fast developing ties with China and North Korea.

"South Korea-Russia cooperation appears to be in a stalemate amid a combination of Russia's bureaucracy, insufficient institutional support and economic troubles," a diplomatic source said.

South Korea's interest in Russia is apparently reducing despite their "strategic cooperative partnership," added the source. (Yonhap)