RUSSIALINK: “Russia supports U.S. efforts on settlement on Korean Peninsula in contacts with N. Korea – Lavrov” – Interfax

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) – Russia supports the efforts made by U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on settling the situation on the Korean Peninsula and supports them in its contacts with North Korea and other countries of the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“It has been a very deep crisis with very serious consequences, which might affect many countries, if things went wrong. We have to build confidence gradually and that is what, I believe President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mr Michael Pompeo are helping to do. We support these efforts and we try to contribute in our contacts with the North Koreans and other players in that region,” Lavrov said in an interview with Larry King for the program Politicking on RT television.

“We strongly support the efforts undertaken by President Donald Trump and also by the President of South Korea to build up the atmosphere, which would be conducive to resolving the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula and to bringing all of us to denuclearization,” Lavrov said, responding to a question as to what Russia thinks about the agreements reached in the meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea in Singapore.

“I know that the outcome of the meeting in Singapore between President Donald Trump and the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un is being criticized by many, as just being empty words on paper without any ‘beef’ in it,” Lavrov said.

“Later, US Secretary of State Mr Michael Pompeo visited Pyeongyang and he was also criticized for not delivering any specific hard commitments to denuclearization, but I think that serious analysts understand that this thing cannot be done overnight,” Lavrov said.

[photo is file photo]