MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Pyongyang's return to nonproliferation regimes will only be a possibility after this country receives security guarantees, a high-ranking diplomat in Moscow said on Thursday.
"Russia favors resolving the North Korea problem either through bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang or through closed multilateral consultations," the diplomat told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"These consultations should envision Pyongyang's return to all international nonproliferation regimes and the placement of all of North Korea's nuclear facilities under the IAEA's control in exchange for guarantees of its security, non-aggression, sovereignty, and territorial integrity," he said.
"Russia is prepared to issue such security guarantees," the diplomat said.
"Moscow suggests fixing the guarantees and Pyongyang's return to nonproliferation regimes in a quadrilateral U.S.-North Korean-Russian-Chinese statement. The document does not require ratification, but provides for demanding together that Pyongyang return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and be inspected by the IAEA," the diplomat noted.
He said he was opposed to involving more states in signing the statement. "Japan and South Korea may take part in consultations, but we are generally against inviting more states to sign the statement. The United States has already suggested involving Australia and Marshall Islands," he said.
Commenting on the statements of several Western politicians who claim that Moscow has a substantial influence on Pyongyang, the diplomat noted that "our possibilities to solve the current problems and our influence on Kim Chong-il are inconsiderable."