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Lavrov states about signals from North Korea to resume six-party talks

MOSCOW, January 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia believes that emergence of new military world powers is unacceptable, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference reviewing the results of 2013 here on Tuesday.

“Certainly, emergence of new military world powers is unacceptable for us. This is a common position of Russia, the People’s Republic of China and other participants in six-party talks (on North Korea’s nuclear problem),” Lavrov told the news conference.

“As for six-party talks, we are convinced that there is no alternative to this process. The goals remain unchanged - to make Korean Peninsula nuclear free. The basis for talks also did not change. This is a statement that six world powers had adopted in September 2005,” the minister noted.

He noted that the North Korean leadership is sending signals that the country is prepared to resume nuclear talks, but other countries expect concrete unilateral actions from Pyongyang before the start of talks that confirm serious intentions. In the view of Lavrov, the negotiators should seek for consensus, not caring about “someone losing face or saving face.”

The minister recalled that Russia will head one of working groups at six-party talks. “I do not rule out that probably the presence of this group will be used now to begin debates and build up trust in them,” the foreign minister believes.