MOSCOW, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia prefers the existing six-party talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue to a U.S.-proposed talks which will exclude the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK), a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

    "The Russian side proceeds from the view that there exists the efficient six-party format for debating the problem," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsovas saying.

    The diplomat made the remarks while commenting on a proposal reportedly raised by the United States to hold a five-party meeting on the Korean problem in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Friday.

    The proposed meeting will group five of the six-party talks but DPRK and was aimed at breaking the stalemate on the issue, Itar-Tass said.

    DPRK, which failed to shut down its main nuclear reactor by an April 14 deadline as agreed in six-party talks in February, insisted that its 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) bank must be returned before closing the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

    The United States said in mid-April that it has agreed with other sides to the six-party talks to give the DPRK "a bit more time" to fulfill its promise to shut its major nuclear facility.

    The DPRK funds were frozen after the United States blacklisted the Macao-based BDA in 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money, an allegation the bank and Pyongyang have both denied.

    Washington and the BDA bank said last month that the DPRK's accounts were no longer frozen.