Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that imposing new sanctions on North Korea was not the answer to the country’s nuclear and ballistic development, speaking at a summit of BRICS nations in Xiamen, China.

Drawing a parallel between U.S. interventions against Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi and the current North Korean situation, Putin suggested that Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear weapons if the safety of the regime were guaranteed.

“They’ll eat grass, but they won’t abandon their program unless they feel secure,” Russian state news agency TASS reported the Russian President as having said.

“The use of sanctions in this situation is