MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia welcomed the willingness of Pyongyang to resume six-party nuclear talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on Tuesday.

    "Russia welcomes the declaration" from Kim Jong-Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), "on the readiness to rejoin the six-party negotiations aimed at solving the Korean peninsula nuclear problem," Yakovenko said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

    "Russia still believes negotiations in the six-party format arethe shortest path to ensuring the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and resolving other related problems," he said.

    Chinese officials said earlier in the day that during Chinese envoy Wang Jiarui's weekend visit to the DPRK, Kim expressed the willingness to return to the six-party talks when conditions for the fourth round of the negotiations are met.

    Pyongyang announced two weeks ago that it was suspending its participation in the talks for an indefinite period and will buildup its nuclear capacity. Other participants in the talks -- the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China -- have since then called on the DPRK to return to negotiations. Enditem