Russians Now Fault N. Korea on Nuclear Talk

In a sharp change of course, Russia on Thursday accused North Korea of being insufficiently forthcoming about its alleged nuclear weapons program, the Interfax news agency reported.

The U.S. said last month that North Korean officials admitted having a nuclear weapons program. A U.S. official then went to Russia to present Moscow with evidence of the alleged uranium-enrichment effort.

Moscow reacted with caution, saying it would like to independently check the information before drawing any conclusions.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said that Moscow had received an explanation from the North Koreans but that it was insufficient, Interfax reported.

“There is some ambiguity in the statements by North Korean representatives,” Losyukov was quoted as saying. “In our view, such ambiguity is very dangerous because it leads to mutual suspicions.”