Pyongyang is seeking direct talks with Washington, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday following a meeting with his U.S. counterpart.

Russia’s top diplomat and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held discussions on the situation on the Korean peninsula at a meeting held on the sidelines of a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“We know that North Korea wants, first of all, to speak with the United States about its security guarantees,” Lavrov said in a statement carried by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). “We are ready to support it. We are