- MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia
accused U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday of having ignited a crisis
over North Korea by antagonising the nuclear-capable Stalinist state and
playing on its dire economic situation.
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- Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Bush was
to blame for North Korea's erratic policies, including steps to unfreeze
its nuclear programme, because of his decision to brand it part of his
"axis of evil" of hostile nations.
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- "How should a small country feel when it is told
that it is all but part of forces of evil of biblical proportions and should
be fought against until total annihilation?" Mamedov told the Vremya
Novostei daily newspaper.
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- Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed Moscow's
official regret over Pyongyang's statement at the weekend that it had begun
removing U.N. monitoring equipment at a nuclear reactor capable of yielding
weapons-grade plutonium.
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- But Mamedov made clear the blame lay with Bush in some
of the sharpest comments Russia has made against the United States since
it joined Washington's war on terror after last year's September 11 attacks.
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- "There is no use expecting countries included in
the 'axis of evil' to remain passive. By reacting they may naturally break
certain international agreements," said Mamedov.
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- "But it would be unfair to blame them for spurring
the whole crisis. The responsibility should be shared by those who launch
a campaign of intimidation and those who see it as a pretext to violate
international agreements."
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- Russia preaches cooperation as the best way to tempt
Pyongyang out of its isolation and has built a pragmatic relationship with
the North after a decade of coolness that marked the end of fraternal ties
of the Soviet era.
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- WEST URGES NORTH KOREA TO STEP BACK
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- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed
concern at North Korea's weekend move and the West urged Pyongyang to step
back and cooperate fully with the IAEA.
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- In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said it hoped Pyongyang
would pursue its ties with the IAEA and stick to its nuclear non-proliferation
obligations. It also called on all parties concerned to show restraint
and keep up a dialogue.
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- Mamedov said the move by North Korea, an impoverished
communist state short of food and fuel oil, should have come as no surprise
to the United States.
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- "Blackmailing North Korea with its difficult economic
situation is counter-productive, it is dangerous," he said.
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- Pyongyang has accused Washington and its allies of triggering
the crisis.
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- Under a 1994 deal with the United States, North Korea
froze its reactors in exchange for shipments of oil and the construction
of proliferation-proof reactors.
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- The United States, South Korea, Japan and the European
Union halted oil supplies after Washington said the North had admitted
defying the 1994 agreement, and other international commitments, with a
programme to develop highly-enriched uranium.
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- A Russian nuclear arms expert said on Monday that Pyongyang
possibly had enough plutonium to make several low-yield nuclear bombs,
but still faced major problems in making them work.
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- "North Korea lacks the necessary technology to build
certain components, such as detonators to explode nuclear devices, and
some others," Sergei Kazennov, of the Institute of World Economy and
International relations, told Itar-Tass news agency.
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