MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - The United States will not cancel its military drills near the Korean Peninsula, even during hypothetical negotiations with North Korea, which, according to reports by South Korean officials, Pyongyang has tentatively agreed to, State Duma Deputy Speaker Igor Lebedev of the Liberal Democratic Party faction said.
"The Americans always act from a position of strength in all matters, in any part of the world," Lebedev told Interfax on Tuesday when asked whether Washington might decide not to hold drills in order to confirm its interest in settling the Korean nuclear problem in exchange for Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear tests during negotiations.
"I don't think this is going to happen," Lebedev said.
Even if the Americans sit down at the negotiating table with North Koreans, "this would still be accompanied by U.S. destroyers, fighter jets, saber rattling, and various kinds of manifestation of the U.S.' strength and superiority," he said.
The U.S. always tries to run its affairs from a position of strength, whether with respect to North Korea, Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, or other countries, Lebedev said.
In principle, this position "can only deserve respect," Lebedev said.
"Our country should also assume this position, and then we will be respected around the world and will not be bracketed with Iran and North Korea," he said.
This is precisely the idea that "the president tried to instill in everyone for 42 minutes of the second part of his address to the Federal Assembly on March 1," he said.
It was reported earlier on Tuesday that the South Korean presidential office said that the North Korean leadership had signaled its willingness to suspend nuclear and missile tests during hypothetical negotiations with the U.S.