Russia Accuses US Of Trying To Provoke North Korea

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the US
of trying to provoke North Korea into stepping up its nuclear
missile programme.
He rejected a call by the American envoy to the UN
Security Council to sever ties with North Korea, after its
latest ballistic missile test on Wednesday. On Wednesday,
the North tested its first missile in two months, saying the
continental US was now within striking distance.

However, Russia argues sanctions do not work and advocates
negotiations instead.
The US has warned that North Korea's government will be
"utterly destroyed" if war breaks out.
Speaking on a visit to the Belarussian capital Minsk, Mr
Lavrov asked whether America was actively seeking to destroy
North Korea.
He said:
"One gets the impression that everything has been
done on purpose to make Kim Jong-un snap and carry
out further inadvisable actions," he said.
"If they want to find a pretext for destroying
North Korea, as the US envoy said at the UN
Security Council, then let them say it outright and
let the supreme American leadership confirm it."
Calling for new talks with North Korea, Mr Lavrov added:
"We have already emphasised several times that the
squeeze of sanctions has essentially come to an
end, and that those resolutions which introduced the
sanctions should have included a requirement to
renew the political process, a requirement to renew
talks.
"But the Americans completely ignore this
requirement and I consider this a big mistake."
Other than China, Russia is one of the few countries with
which North Korea still has good relations. Both Russia and
China wield a veto at the UN Security Council.