Following North Korea’s declaration earlier this week that it now has nuclear capability to target the whole of the US, Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has confirmed Russia is considering its options.
Mr Patrushev admitted that Pyongyang’s actions had put Russia at risk due to the potential of an outbreak of war.
He said: “If there is military action – and you know some countries do not rule it out – this would create all sorts of problems, including for us.”
Donald Trump continually said he would use military intervention in North Korea if the US or any of its allies were put at risk.
Addressing South Korea’s National Assembly in November Trump insisted that the US would “not be intimidated” by Kim Jong-un’s rhetoric and called for other countries to respond to the “twisted regimes” threats with a sign of military force.
He also warned the “three largest aircraft carriers in the world are appropriately positioned” to face Pyongyang.
He has also previously called diplomatic negotiations with the rogue state a “waste of time”.
Mr Patrushev also said that Russia was getting ready for a military standoff between its unruly neighbour and other states around the world.
He said: “We are assessing this and preparing ourselves. We will not be taken by surprise.”
He added: “We basically share a border with them. That’s why we are interested in a political and diplomatic solution.”
Tensions between North Korea and the US have risen in recent months as Mr Trump and his Korean counter-part have taken part in a war of words.
Addressing the UN in October Trump called Kim Jong-un “rocket man on a suicide mission” and vowed to “totally destroy” the corrupt nation.
However, the rhetoric between the two nations heated up earlier this week following another missile test by North Korea.
The North Korean missile was fired eastwards from the hermit state. The missile landed about 210km west of Japan’s Kyurokujima island, Tokyo said.
Japanese media reports the missile was in the air for 50 minutes – indicating a very high altitude flight path.
It travelled east for around 620 miles and to an altitude of 2,500 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan.
The Korean Central News Agency made a statement following the missile test in which they bragged that they now had the ability to hit “all the US mainland”.
Trump responded to the new threat by ominously saying “we will deal with it”.