MOSCOW, July 5: Russia has told North Korea's Kim Jong-il it is ready to bring the two Koreas together for talks to help settle their differences, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

Mr Lavrov met the reclusive leader in Pyongyang at the weekend after a third round of six-way negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programmes involving the two Koreas, Russia, the United States, China and Japan.

The talks seek to defuse a standoff that began in Oct 2002, when US officials said North Korea had admitted to running secret nuclear weapons programmes in violation of international non-proliferation agreements.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted Mr Lavrov as saying his talks with Kim Jong-il had focused on ways of reaching a peaceful settlement between North and South Korea. "We considered questions of a three-sided settlement on the Korean peninsula with the participation of Russia and the two Koreas," Tass quoted him as saying in a report from Pyongyang.

It was not clear if he was proposing separate three-way talks, with Russia as mediator, and how this would tie in with broader international efforts. He later said Moscow backed Pyongyang's call for compensation in exchange for freezing its nuclear programmes as a first stage for negotiations.

At the latest six-way talks in Beijing, North Korea said proposals from Washington, which offered security guarantees and South Korean aid in return for a freeze, showed little new.

It has demanded energy assistance equivalent to two million kilowatts of electricity and a US pledge on non-aggression. Russia has a small land border with the North and is one of only a handful of states that have diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea.

Mr Lavrov, who handed Mr Kim a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, made his comments amid reports of a possible bold diplomatic move by Russia to help end the crisis.

Some reports have said Moscow is planning to host a summit between the two Koreas in its far east during a visit by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, expected in September.

Others said Mr Putin would meet Mr Kim in the Russian port city of Vladivostok - a report flatly denied by Mr Lavrov. "Such a meeting is not planned at all," Tass quoted him as saying.

Russia's foreign ministry said little about Mr Putin's message to Mr Kim, except that it concerned bilateral cooperation and regional security. Mr Lavrov said he had assured North Korea it had the right to nuclear-generated power if it rejoined the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and took part in activities of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. North Korea expelled all IAEA inspectors 18 months ago and has refused to let them return. Last year it withdrew from NPT. -Reuters