Russia warns US against unilateral strike on North Korea

MOSCOW: Russia urged the US to avoid any unilateral use of force against North Korea, warning this would be a highly dangerous step.

“If we are to understand the words of the US vice president as a threat to use force unilaterally, it is course a very risky course of action,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments broadcast on state TV on Monday.

While Russia condemns the “brinkmanship’’ of the ballistic missile tests by the isolated Communist state in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, this doesn’t justify breaking international law, Lavrov said. “So I really hope that the same unilateral actions we saw in Syria won’t happen.”


Russia maintains close ties to North Korea, with which it shares a border, but isn’t an ally to the regime like China. Russia and the US clashed over President Donald Trump’s decision to order missile strikes on Syria on April 7 in response to a chemical weapons attack blamed on the Syrian regime.

A visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow last week failed to resolve the dispute.