The widening spiral of escalation surrounding North Korea could lead to an uncontrolled and potentially catastrophic developments, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ryabkov pointed out that Moscow’s proposals on North Korea boil down to multilateral dialogue and avoiding escalation.
“North Korea’s new missile launch is another reminder that other options simply do not exist if we do not want to slip into a completely uncontrolled, potentially catastrophic situation,” he said.
Moscow is concerned about North Korea’s missile launch in violation of the UN Security Council, Ryabkov added.
“We are alarmed, worried and are following what is happening with a great sense of apprehension for the situation in Northeast Asia,” Ryabkov said.
North Korea announced earlier in the day it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-14, at 00:30 GMT. It said the missile traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before “accurately hitting the target waters in the open sea” in the Sea of Japan.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its warning system indicated the Hwasong-14’s flight distance and altitude corresponded to the characteristics of a medium-range ballistic missile.
Source: Sputnik