"Reports on the production and so-called weaponization of plutonium from spent fuel rods... can hardly be seen as a favorable atmosphere for the start of talks," ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told a briefing.

"However, we wanted to urge against this fact being over dramatized because such measures by Pyongyang are essentially nothing new."

The hardline communist state announced Tuesday it had produced more plutonium for its nuclear arms programme in an effort to pressure the United States into accepting its offer for high-level bilateral talks.

It said such talks could lead to a resumption of stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Rather than be a cause for alarm, Nesterenko said, Pyongyang's declaration shows a willingness "in principle" to return to the talks aimed at defusing the nuclear tensions.

"We are counting on our colleagues in North Korea and the United States being able to find a common denominator within a fairly short timescale," he added.

Russia is involved in the six-nation negotiations with the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China and Japan.

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