US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Russia of hurting U.S. efforts to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons while China had been helpful.
“China is helping us and maybe Russia’s going through the other way and hurting what we’re getting,” Trump said of the North Korea situation.
In an interview with Fox Business Network which was aired late Wednesday night, Trump said it would be easier to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue if the United States had a better relationship with Russia.
“I think we could have a good relationship with Russia. I think that North Korean situation would be easier settled”, Trump said.
A series of weapons tests by North Korea and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between Trump and have ratcheted up tensions.
Trump has pressed China to help intervene in North Korea’s nuclear program which has birthed rising tensions as a result of firestorm of ugly comments between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
China, North Korea’s sole major ally, accounts for more than 90 percent of trade with the pariah nation and has imposed some moderate sanctions on North Korea, but Trump still calls for more.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump said he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on phone and the conversation included North Korea.
U.S.-Russia relations have been strained over allegations Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election which is the subject of the ongoing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and its backing of the Syrian government.
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