Russia warns US against news sanctions on North Korea

FILE: President Donald Trump speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office, Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead via The White House/Flickr, Public Domain)

MOSCOW—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that potential new sanctions against North Korea would be “dangerous.”

Lavrov and Tillerson spoke by phone late Wednesday, several hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that “talking is not the answer” when it comes to dealing with North Korea.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a read-out of the call late Wednesday that both Lavrov and Tillerson condemned North Korea for firing a midrange ballistic missile Japan earlier this week and called for dialogue.

Lavrov told Tillerson that Russia urges all parties to avoid a military solution to the crisis and added that Moscow views any new potential sanctions against North Korea as “counterproductive and dangerous.

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