MOSCOW, March 7 /TASS/. Russia considers DPRK’s statements containing threats to deliver "preventive nuclear strikes" against opponents to be absolutely impermissible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"The development of the situation on the Korean peninsula and around it is a source of growing concern…," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"We consider it to be absolutely impermissible to make public statements containing threats to deliver some ‘preventive nuclear strikes’ against opponents," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
"On March 7, the United States and South Korea started military exercises, which are formally considered to be planned but in reality are unprecedented in their scale and the number and types of weapons used as well as the type of maneuvers drilled," the Russian Foreign Ministry went on to say.
"Naturally, as a state, which is directly named as an object of this kind of military activities, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) cannot but feel reasonably concerned for its security. Russia has many times stated its openly negative attitude to such manifestations of military and political pressure on Pyongyang," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that North Korea’s reaction to the ongoing events cannot be called legitimate either. "We consider it to be absolutely impermissible to make public statements with threats to deliver some ‘preventive nuclear strikes’ against opponents. Pyongyang should be aware of the fact that in this way the DPRK will become fully opposed to the international community and will create international legal grounds for using military force against itself in accordance with the right of a state to self-defense enshrined in the United Nations Charter," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.