MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's participation in the NATO "PURL" initiative to allocate funds for Ukraine to purchase weapons only pushes back the prospects for resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"This will cause irreparable damage to relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea," Zakharova said, adding Russia will be forced to exercise its right to retaliate.

According to Zakharova, Moscow was surprised by news of Seoul's possible participation in the program, as it runs counter to its official position.

Zakharova said that Russia values South Korea's official line of non-participation in the efforts of the "collective West" to pump weapons and ammunition into the armed forces of Ukraine, viewing it as a prerequisite for the future restoration of Russian-South Korean relations.

On Friday, The Korea Times, citing its sources at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, reported that NATO had approached South Korean authorities with a request to join the PURL initiative.

NATO launched the PURL program last summer in response to changes in U.S. policy regarding free arms supplies to Ukraine. The program's mechanism is that Kyiv raises emergent requests for weapons, and NATO members finance their purchase from the United States. ■