Russia expressed cautious optimism today ahead of six-party talks in China on North Korea's nuclear crisis and said it would work to ensure everyone stays at the table.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said as he landed in Beijing he was "discreetly optimistic" about ensuring all sides remain committed to talks during the three-day talks.
Diplomats from the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia are meeting from Wednesday to Friday.
US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly was due in Beijing this evening. Pyongyang's delegation, headed by deputy foreign minister Kim Yong-il, was set to arrive tomorrow.
All sides were expected to lay out their positions, but hopes of a breakthrough remained tempered by the failure of talks in April between the United States, North Korea and China.
The United States said in October North Korea had admitted to a clandestine programme to enrich uranium to build nuclear weapons, which violated its agreements with the United States and international commitments.
Since then, Pyongyang has thrown out UN nuclear inspectors, become the first state to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted its Yongbyon nuclear plant, sparking fears it may have reprocessed spent fuel rods there into plutonium for weapons.