Putin accuses US of 'provoking' North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that both - United States President Donald Trump and North Korea supreme leader Kim Jong-un - needed to 'calm down' in order to resolve the worsening crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Speaking at an annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian premier blamed American policy for creating the current crisis, as reported by express.co.uk.

Putin said he hoped 'common sense will prevail' even as Trump and Kim continue to trade personal insults and threats of nuclear war.

Mentioning a 2005 deal, brokered by the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, set in to motion the denuclearisation of the Kim regime, Putin said, "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?"

Putin then went on to accuse the US of "provoking" North Korea to withdraw from the deal.

He cited American invovement in overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya as reasons for the hermit kingdom's distrust of the US.

"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," Putin added.

North Korea sparked fears of World War III after test-firing a series of intercontinental missiles, after which, Trump retaliated to Jong-un's threats of a missile attack on the US by promising to react with "fire and fury" and even "totally destroy" the hermit nation.