At the latest round of talks in September, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees, but later refused to return to the negotiating table until Washington lifted financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
"Mutually acceptable compromises between the U.S. and North Korea will help the resumption of six-nation nuclear talks, even if these are small steps toward each other," Alexander Alekseyev said at a briefing in Tokyo.
Russia, China, South Korea and Japan are also involved in the talks, which began in August 2003.
When asked whether Russia believed the resumption of talks was impeded by the U.S. sanctions, Alekseyev said his country did not consider it appropriate to blame any party for the long break in the negotiating process.
The U.S. has been pressing China to use its leverage as North Korea's main supplier of aid and ally to secure the resumption of the talks.
