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Russia Concerned by North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb Claims

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The Kremlin is worried about North Korea's announcement that it had carried out a hydrogen bomb test, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

"President Vladimir Putin has given instructions to thoroughly study data of all monitoring stations, including seismic, and analyze the situation in case the information about the test is confirmed," Peskov said at the news conferences, the TASS news agency reported.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the Russian State Duma lower house’s defense committee, called news of North Korea's bomb test "frightening," and said that the nuclear potential of the country must be put under international control, TASS reported Wednesday.

North Korea is already subject to an array of international sanctions that target Pyongyang's military and weapons program, and UN Security Council members are expected to discuss possible further sanctions in the coming days.

Komoyedov said that seismologists still needed to determine whether the nuclear claims were accurate, but “this is information that I think frightens the whole globe.”

North Korea announced earlier on Wednesday that they had successfully tested a thermonuclear bomb.

The Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin called for "cool heads" and a "proportionate response" to North Korea's fourth nuclear test, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.

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