Russians 'in N Korea Test Talks'
Russia says it is in direct contact with North Korea to try to prevent it from carrying out its plan to test a nuclear weapon.
October 5, 2006
BBC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was talking to the North Korean leadership in an attempt to dissuade it from conducting a test.
Photo: Mr Lavrov said North Korea might be persuaded back to talks
It comes two days after North Korea said it would test a nuclear weapon.
The announcement drew warnings from the international community to North Korea not to take such a step.
The secretive communist regime says it possesses nuclear weapons, but this has not been independently verified.
Pyongyang has been involved in on-off six-party talks with Russia, the US, China, Japan and South Korea to resolve the crisis over its nuclear programme.
AID DEAL
Earlier this week, US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said a nuclear test by North Korea would be regarded as a provocative act.
Speaking to reporters while on a visit to Warsaw, Poland, Mr Lavrov said that in the interests of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and security on the Korean peninsular, it was important that North Korea returned to the six-party negotiations.
Mr Lavrov said he believed there were possibilities to get North Korea back to the negotiating table.
The most recent round of talks ended in September 2005, with a deal which promised economic aid in return for Pyongyang scrapping its nuclear ambitions.
That agreement, however, appears to have fallen apart over disagreements on its implementation.
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