The Russian leader said both President Trump and Kim Jong-un needed to “calm down” in order to resolve the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Mr Putin said he hoped “common sense will prevail” as Mr Trump and despot Kim continue to trade personal insults and threats of nuclear war.
Speaking at an annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian premier blamed American policy for creating the current crisis.
He said a 2005 agreement between the United States and North Korea which ordered the rogue state to reduce its nuclear programme had been a good start.
But he added: “A few months later this wasn’t enough for the United States.
“Accounts started to be frozen… North Korea had to do things that went beyond the agreements.
“Why did the United States do this? Was it not enough?”
Mr Putin went on to accuse the US of “provoking” North Korea to withdraw from the deal.
And he citied American invovement in overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya as reasons for the hermit kingdom’s distrust of the US.
He added: “North Korea does not see any other means of self-defence except the development of weapons of mass destruction and military equipment.”
“We consider that both sides have to stop escalating the situation. We have to end this spiral.”
But he heralded Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s desire for “direct contact” with the North Korean regime as a “very good signal”.
The Russian leader also said Moscow refused to recognise Kim’s regime as a nuclear power.
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