MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Aggressive statements by Washington are patterned upon statements that earlier came from Pyongyang, and if put into practice they will turn into a global problem, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Vesti FM radio on Wednesday.
She said the present debate around the Korean peninsula is a dangerous game between Washington and Pyongyang. "This is indeed what worries everyone, as this muscle-flexing comes around nuclear weapons and nuclear technologies," the Russian diplomat said.
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"If things that we hear from Washington will become a reality, then of course this is a certain scenario of an apocalypse. And most important is that these destructive actions will never stay within the region, this will be a global problem, we are well aware of all the risks," Zakharova added.
"We have been hearing of late that Washington has started to gradually soften its rhetoric," Zakharova said. "However, the problem stays. The statements that have being made in Washington over the recent time are pretty much the same as the statements made in Pyongyang," she added.
"In my opinion, the US has always sought the role of a superpower, possessing not only nuclear weapons, but also huge financial, political, diplomatic, legal possibilities of influencing the situation," she went on.
"Slipping into such an aggressive rhetoric of intimidation, well they must have tried hard," she noted.
Washington and Pyongyang have been exchanging sharp statements lately. Last week, US President Donald Trump told reporters that North Korea should stop threatening the United States, otherwise Washington will answer with "fire and fury the likes of which the world has never seen." North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) later reported that Pyongyang was "carefully examining" plans for a missile strike on the Andersen Air Force Base located on the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Tensions around the Korean Peninsula started to rise in light of the implementation of the North Korean missile program. In July, Pyongyang conducted two ballistic missile tests which provoked a sharp response from the United States, Japan and South Korea. Washington has been repeatedly stating that no option including the use of military force could be ruled out.