The New York Times says Moscow is trying to lay the groundwork for a fall summit meeting in Vladivostok between the leaders of Russia and the two Koreas.

The leading U.S. daily said Sunday that the visit to the two Koreas by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is reportedly aimed at making preparations for such a trilateral summit.

But Lavrov denied speculation over his visit's purpose during a news conference in Seoul before his departure to North Korea.

The paper also reported that Russia is moving to become a major supplier of electricity and gas to North Korea at a time when the supply of non-nuclear energy sources available to the energy-starved North is emerging as an important bargaining chip in six-way nuclear talks.

The reports quoted Sergei Darkin, governor of Russia's Pacific Maritime region, as saying that Moscow is completing plans to export excess electricity from Russian hydroelectric dams to the Korean peninsula, which could send power through North Korea to South Korea.