Russia denounced media fuss about North Korea's capabilities to carry out nuclear bomb attack as exaggerated and rejected imposing blanket sanctions on Pyongyang that may led to "the economic suffocation of the whole country".
"I think we are years and years away from a moment they [North Korean] can weaponize," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC.
"What they are testing are quite primitive devices which require months for preparation, and which are essentially pieces of equipment with all sorts of wires and additional elements around, which simply cannot be put on top of any missile".
The Russian diplomat declared that that Moscow was keen to achieve a nuclear free Korean peninsula, but emphasized that any measures taken by the international community must be proportionate and must not demonize North Korea.
"We are in the process of discussing a draft resolution for the UN Security Council that would take further measures, and we are prepared to do so, but this resolution should not equate measures that are targeted on stopping the illegal activities of Pyongyang in the area of nuclear weaponization and missile developments to the economic suffocation of the whole country," Ryabkov said.
"Here we have a red line which we should observe. We're hoping we will find a way forward collectively, co-operatively in New York at the Security Council and we will continue our bilateral exchanges with Washington on this issue because it's very serious and it's dangerous... and we are concerned [because] North Korea is very close to Russian borders".
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/7760
TAGS:
online news tv
