BEIJING, April 30. /TASS/. Washington’s military pressure against North Korea only provokes Pyongyang’s retaliatory measures, Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov told reporters on Sunday.

"Military pressure against North Korea by the United States only provokes retaliatory steps of the North Korean side. During the (presidency of Donald) Trump North Korea has fired missiles nine times already," Denisov said.

"We call for resuming the formats that already exist, first of all the six-party talks (on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula)," the Russian ambassador said, adding that the Chinese side says there is no alternative to this format. "Any initiatives won’t work, the Chinese say."

Positions of Russia and China on the North Korean nuclear issue nearly coincide, Denisov said. Both countries support the UN Security Council’s resolutions imposing sanctions on Pyongyang and will never back North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs as they pose a direct threat to security and also provoke the US to increase defensive capabilities that "in fact have offensive potential," he said.

Russia and China share view that there is only a political and diplomatic solution to North Korea’s nuclear program. "Reasonable arguments that both we and China have repeatedly given do not work now but this does not mean that we should not continue persuading others," he said.

The six-party talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, bringing together South Korea, North Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia, were suspended in 2008 at Pyongyang’s initiative. On Friday, North Korea attempted to launch another ballistic missile. This occurred several hours after the UN Security Council’s special meeting in New York devoted to the situation on the Korean Peninsula.