SEOUL, February 7. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko held a "useful and honest dialogue" during his visit to Seoul, Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Georgy Zinoviev said in an interview with the Yonhap news agency.

"It was a very useful, frank dialogue based on mutual respect," the ambassador said about Rudenko's visit to the South Korean capital.

During the trip, the Russian deputy foreign minister held consultations with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chong Byung Won, as well as with Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea for the Problems of the Korean Peninsula Kim Gong and First Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyung.

"Relations are going through difficult times now, and the bilateral dialogue is not going as smoothly as we would like. But I think that maintaining communication, despite the difficulties, is better than not being in contact at all," Zinoviev added.

The Russian ambassador to Seoul once again refuted accusations of illegal military-technical cooperation between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). "Cooperation between Russia and North Korea does not threaten the security of neighboring countries. Russia, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, responsibly fulfills its international obligations," the ambassador said, calling the accusations groundless.

He also touched upon the possibility of responding to expanded South Korean restrictions on supplies to Russia in December. "[In case of a response], it will be necessary to limit the goods that Russia supplies to the Republic of Korea. This will harm Russian companies; we would not like that," the ambassador said. In December, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow reserves the right to take retaliatory measures, "and not necessarily of a symmetrical nature.".