Russia Opposes North Korea's Possession of Nukes - Lavrov

© REUTERS / KyodoPeople watch news report showing North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile launch on electronic screen at Pyongyang station, North Korea in this photo taken by Kyodo on July 29, 2017
People watch news report showing North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile launch on electronic screen at Pyongyang station, North Korea in this photo taken by Kyodo on July 29, 2017 - Sputnik International
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Russia will not accept North Korea being in possession of nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

DVORIKI (Sputnik) – The Russian foreign minister said that Russia and China had "a whole range of proposals aimed at preventing the deepest conflict, a crisis with a huge number of human losses."

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea signed this agreement [on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons], then exited it, and now says it has all legal rights to create nuclear weapons, it has created them already. But we know our stance — we will not accept a nuclear North Korea which has nuclear weapons," Lavrov said, speaking at a forum, on the North Korean escalation and the risk of Washington-Pyongyang conflict turning into a war.

A woman walks past a television broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing ballistic missiles, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, March 6, 2017. - Sputnik International
Risks of N Korea-US Conflict Turning Into War are High - Lavrov
Russia has repeatedly voiced concern over the escalation on the Korean peninsula. During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow earlier this summer, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries issued a joint statement proposing ways to de-escalate the situation. Moscow and Beijing called on Pyongyang to stop nuclear tests and urged Washington and Seoul to refrain from conducting joint drills.

The tensions around North Korea have been high over the recent months and they have escalated further after the tightening of economic sanctions against North Korea by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Saturday in response to July's launches of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang.

The move prompted harsh criticism from Pyongyang which subsequently vowed to use any means possible to retaliate against the United States after the UNSC approved the new US-drafted sanctions. Trump in turn, warned, that North Korea’s possible actions would be met with "fire and fury" from the United States. Following the statement, Pyongyang said it is considering an attack near the Pacific island of Guam where several US military bases were located.

Russia and China called those parties involved for conducting a dialogue amid the recent escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

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