MOSCOW -- Russia on Friday rejected U.S. efforts to refer North Korea's nuclear violations to the UN Security Council, warning that this could inflame the current crisis, AFP reported.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who carried out a diplomatic mission to North Korea from January 18 to 21, said that Pyongyang insisted on direct dialogue with Washington to resolve their dispute.

"To refer the North Korean problem to the Security Council would be seen by North Korea as an attempt to put pressure on it," said Losyukov, who held a six-hour meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Monday.

"If sanctions are introduced by the Security Council it will be considered by North Korea as a declaration of war," he told a news conference in Moscow.

"Such discussions at the Security Council would be premature," he said. Russia is one of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members.

Just hours after his comments the UN's nuclear watchdog announced that its board of governors would meet in Vienna on February 3 to discuss the North Korean nuclear crisis and possibly report the issue to the Security Council.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose executive board had been due to meet Friday, has been divided on whether to refer the crisis to the council.

The U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control, John Bolton, Friday repeated Washington's call for the United Nations to seize the North Korean issue.

Losyukov, the first foreign envoy to meet with North Korean leader since the crisis erupted in October, presented him with Russia's plan to resolve the row over Pyongyang's nuclear plans.

"The dispute must be settled face-to-face between the United States and North Korea," said the Russian diplomat.

If this did not happen, "You cannot rule out the situation degenerating into a military conflict," he added.

The Russian diplomat said however he believed there was the potential for a solution since North Korea leaders had assured him that Pyongyang was not developing nuclear weapons.

"There are grounds for optimism given that during our visit to North Korea we were assured that this country is not developing nuclear weapons," he said.

Pyongyang has already said that it would consider any sanctions imposed by the Security Council as a "declaration of war," though Bolton assured Friday that Washington would not immediately press for sanctions.

Tensions have mounted over the North's decision to reactivate a mothballed nuclear plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, kick out United Nations' weapons inspectors and to withdraw from a key nuclear arms safeguard accord.

One of the major planks of Russia's plan involves the United States guaranteeing it will not attack North Korea, as well as giving the North economic aid.

In return, North Korea would agree to resurrect a 1994 deal between it and the United States, the so-called agreed framework, under which Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for fuel supplies.

However, Washington has ruled out signing a formal non-aggression treaty with Pyongyang or restoring the agreed framework, which collapsed in October after U.S. allegations that North Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

It has instead offered to "document" its intent not to attack North Korea in a less formal declaration and held out the promise of economic aid.

Moscow Friday suggested setting up new "five plus five" group -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Australia, the European Union, Japan, North and South Korea, to help resolve the crisis.