ASTANA, May 21. /TASS/. The United States and its allies are aggravating the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) and bringing it closer to a hot phase, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers' Council.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has recently expressed its gravest concern over provocative actions by the United States and its allies in this region (joint exercises by the United States, South Korea and Japan - TASS). Such actions are aimed at provoking and aggravating the situation to the point of its transition to a hot phase," Lavrov said.

He remarked that Russia did not rule out that "Washington and its satellites hatch such plans whenever they try to provoke unrest on the Korean Peninsula."