Russia is not currently cooperating with the United States on discussions about North Korea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly told the Russian RIA news agency.
“There is no cooperation so far. Only periodic exchanges of views,” Peskov said, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are likely to meet during an Asian economic forum next week.
If the two leaders do meet, Peskov said there is a “great probability” they would discuss the situation in North Korea.
Trump and Putin will be in the Philippines to attend the East Asia Summit, in addition to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting.
Ahead of Trump’s visit, two supersonic aircraft conducted a bombing exercise over the Korean Peninsula as a show of force against North Korea. The B-1B bombers were escorted on the simulated drills Thursday by two South Korean fighter jets, according to an official with that country’s military.
North Korean state TV denounced the exercise as a “surprise nuclear strike drill” and said “gangster-like U.S. imperialists” were attempting to provoke a nuclear war.
The increased tensions on the Korean peninsula come as North Korea has, in recent months, tested nuclear bombs, missiles that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland and launched multiple missiles over Japan.