After the United States ratchet up its war rhetoric against North Korea and news came out that the United States is preparing to scrap the weight limit on South Korean warheads, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against military hysteria and called for a solution via peaceful means.

Yesterday, United States’ ambassador to the United Nation Nikki Haley said during the United Nation’s Security Council (UNSC) meeting that with these actions taken by North Korea which remains in defiance of the resolutions adopted by UNSC, the country is begging for a war. In addition to that, she said that the United States is considering halting any trade with countries that have dealings with North Korea. While the United States called for tougher actions on North Korea, Russia has called for a non-military resolution to the tensions relating to North Korea at the emergency UN Security Council meeting, convened following an underground hydrogen bomb test carried out by Pyongyang on Sunday. “We call for the international community not to be ruled by emotion, but to approach the situation in a calm and balanced manner,” said Russia’s representative at the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, during Monday’s meeting in New York. “Moscow once again emphasizes that a comprehensive solution to the nuclear and other problems on the Korean peninsula can only be achieved through political and diplomatic means, including through the mediation by the UN General Secretary."

Today President Putin said, “Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it’s a dead end……It could lead to a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life. There is no other way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, save that of peaceful dialogue.” He added that examples of Iraq and Libya have convinced the North Korean regime that only nuclear deterrence can protect them. So, according to him, no sanctions would force them to change their path. He also pushed for restoration of international law, ““As I told my colleagues yesterday, they will eat grass but will not stop their program as long as they do not feel safe…..What can restore their security? The restoration of international law.”