Putin, Trump agree to exchange info on N Korea

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump had agreed in a phone call to exchange information about North Korea and cooperate on possible initiatives to resolve a crisis around the Asian nation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Putin and Trump had also spoken about establishing contacts with North Korea. The two men had also talked about improving dialogue between Russia and the United States, Peskov said.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a possible breakdown of the Iran nuclear deal would send the wrong signal when it came to trying to resolve the situation around North Korea, the RIA and Interfax news agencies reported on Friday. Any attempts to provoke a military scenario for North Korea would lead to catastrophe, Lavrov said.