You're reading: Russian deputies do not think hostilities could start on Korean peninsula

Moscow - Russian parliamentarians do not believe that the UN Security Council's decision to unanimously approve a resolution condemning a rocket launch by North Korea and tightening sanctions would prompt Pyongyang to launch hostilities.

“The decision of the UN SC to toughen sanctions is absolutely logical
and necessary because, otherwise, Pyongyang would have continued
implementing its nuclear program despite numerous warnings of the
unacceptability of these activities,” Frants Klintsevich, a United
Russia Party faction member and deputy chairman of the State Duma
Defense Committee, told Interfax.

“Pyongyang’s threat to sever all agreements with Seoul, including the
mutual non-aggression pact, as well as South Korea’s promise to destroy
Kim Jong Un’s regime if North Korea delivers a nuclear strike against
it are no more than a demonstration of strength, a kind of cheek
puffing. And I am totally certain that they will not lead to any
hostilities,” Klintsevich said.

U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises, which have been held in
the immediate vicinity of North Korea’s borders, are also intended to
“bring the authorities in Pyongyang to their senses,” he said.

“These military exercises are also nothing more than a demonstration
of strength. I am convinced that negotiations will continue through
diplomatic channels after these ambitious statements and demonstrative
acts,” Klintsevich said.

Leonid Kalashnikov, a Communist MP and first deputy chairman of the
State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, does not expect a military
conflict in this region either.

“Indeed, North Korea is driving itself into a deadlock of complete
international isolation as it pursues its own security interests, but I
would like to remind you that, just like Iran, the DPRK was prepared
earlier to sit down at the negotiating table, but on certain terms.
Pyongyang, for example, demanded an easing of its sanctions and food
aid, but the international community rejected these requests,”
Kalashnikov told Interfax.

Tensions are running really high at the moment, and “it is possible
to expect provocations from any side – either North Korea, South Korea
or a third side,” he said.

“Such a danger exists, and it is quite serious. But I do not think that such a scenario is possible,” he said.

This conflict can be settled only through diplomatic negotiations with the North Korean leadership, Kalashnikov said.