Russia calls for international calm over North Korea's nuclear missile ambitions

This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 30, 2017 shows a test-fire of a ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea.

Russia has urged the international community against taking measures which could increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"We consider the attempts of the US and some other countries to shift the responsibility in what is happening [on the Korean Peninsula] onto Russia and China, and to almost blame Moscow and Beijing for 'conniving in' North Korea's nuclear missile ambitions, as baseless," said a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday.

"We call on all sides involved to refrain from any steps that could lead to further escalation of tensions," it stressed.

China has also repeatedly said it is not Beijing’s responsibility to resolve the North’s issue. It has urged both Pyongyang and Washington to take steps to calm tensions and address each other’s concerns.

Earlier in the day, the US envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced that any new resolution by the UNSC "that does not significantly increase the international pressure on North Korea is of no value."  

She added that the time for negotiating about North Korea has ended and that a diplomatic response to Pyongyang’s actions would only show "to the North Korean dictator [Kim Jong-un] that the international community is unwilling to seriously challenge him."    

This file photo taken on July 5, 2017 shows US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaking during a Security Council meeting on North Korea at the UN headquarters in New York. 

The Russian statement added that Moscow is "very much concerned about the recent developments" in the Korean peninsula, especially the North’s recent missile test which "directly violates UN Security Council resolutions."

"It is Russia and China who have jointly worked out a roadmap that would exclude the use of force and solve issues on the Korean Peninsula, including the nuclear one, through diplomatic means, by establishing dialogue without any preliminary conditions," it added.

North Korea is under mounting international pressure over its missile and nuclear development programs, but it says it needs to continue and develop its missile force as a deterrent to defend the nation in the face of the US and its regional allies' hegemony. On the 4th of July, the US Independence Day, Pyongyang test-fired an ICBM capable of delivering a "large, heavy nuclear warhead" to the US continent.

‘US and North Korea must reduce tensions not China’

Meanwhile, China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi reacted to Haley’s remarks, stressing that Washington and Pyongyang, not Beijing, must try and reduce tensions and restart negotiations over denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

"They hold the primary responsibility to keep things moving, to start moving in the right direction, not China," he said at a conference marking the end of China's presidency of UNSC.

File photo taken on March 8, 2017, shows China's Ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi as he arrives for the UN Security Council consultations on North Korea’s missile launches at United Nations headquarters in New York.

"No matter how capable China is, China's efforts will not yield practical results because it depends on the two principal parties," he added.