Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged the U.S. and North Korea to launch negotiations amid growing tensions over the North's nuclear program.
 
He told Russia's state-run RIA news agency on Monday that Moscow is working to maintain contacts with Pyongyang at the highest possible level, and has a channel in place to discuss a roadmap for settling the North Korean nuclear crisis. 
 
Lavrov said that Russia calls on the U.S. and North Korea to focus on solving specific problems of the Korean Peninsula on the basis of negotiations and to that end, it is necessary to strengthen contacts, not halt them.
 
In another interview with Russia's state-funded RT network, the minister reaffirmed Russia's opposition to attempts to seek a complete economic blockade on North Korea. 

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