Russian official calls for U.S.-North Korea talks, offers to help

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for the U.S. and North Korea to start talks over the North Korean nuclear weapons program and said Russia was prepared to facilitate the negotiations, according to a Reuters report.

Why it matters: Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced similar sentiments. When he and President Trump spoke by phone earlier this month, Putin said they should be cooperating when working on the issues posed by North Korea, per the Independent. The UN applied additional sanctions to North Korea this week, which the regime labeled an "act of war."