Russia says will not offer to host Trump meeting with North Korea's Kim: RIA

Refuting earlier reports of Rusia could host meeting between US president Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it will not offer to host any such meeting.

Trump has said he is trying to set up a meeting with Kim to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula. Lavrov was quoted as saying by RIA that the meeting would be a step away from a military resolution of the situation.

In December there were media reports that said that Russia could host talks between the United States and North Korea if Moscow is asked to do so.

“We are open to contacts and ready to provide a venue (for talks) if necessary,” news agency RIA quoted Russian ambassador-at-large Oleg Burmistrov as saying. “We are ready to take part in such meetings if we are invited.”

On Wednesday the White House has said that Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have not spoken directly but the US president confirmed that Washington and Pyongyang had been in contact at "very high levels" to prepare for a historic meeting between them.

The Washington Post reported that CIA director Mike Pompeo had met Kim on a secret trip to the North over the first weekend of April, shortly after he was nominated to be secretary of state.

(With inputs from Reuters)