Top Russian official tells Tillerson new N. Korea sanctions would be ‘dangerous’

Russia’s top diplomat warned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson against new sanctions on North Korea, saying additional penalties against Pyongyang would be “dangerous.” 

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the warning during a phone call with his U.S. counterpart on Wednesday evening, according to The Associated Press, which cited a readout of the call from Russia’s foreign ministry. 

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously earlier this month to impose new sanctions in response to North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launches earlier in the summer. 

Lavrov’s warning comes after President Trump said on Wednesday that talking with North Korea was “not the answer.”

“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years,” Trump tweeted.

The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

{mosads}Trump was responding to North Korea’s latest missile launch, which flew through Japanese airspace on Tuesday. 

The launch was seen by many observers as a signal to Trump that North Korea would not change its behavior. 

American, South Korean and Japanese warplanes took part in a joint flyover of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday.

A U.S. official told CNN the exercise was intended to “strongly counter North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests and development of nuclear weapons.”