At the UN Security Council, Russia used its veto and blocked the resumption of the work of a group of experts who had been monitoring compliance with sanctions against North Korea for years. Before that, the group said it was investigating whether Russia violated sanctions by buying North Korean weapons.
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The other day, the FT wrote that Russia supplies oil directly to the DPRK, contrary to UN sanctions, and receives weapons.
According to the Associated Press, the 15-member Security Council voted 13 in favor, Russia voted against, and China abstained.
A Security Council resolution would extend the panel’s mandate for a year, but a Russian veto would halt its work when its current mandate ends at the end of April.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told Rada before the vote that Western countries were trying to “strangle” North Korea and that sanctions were losing their “relevance” and were “out of touch with reality” in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the country.
He accused the panel of being “increasingly reduced to playing into the hands of Western approaches, reprinting biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and poor quality photographs.” Thus, according to Nebenzi, the group “essentially admits its inability to make a sober assessment of the status of the sanctions regime.”
The Russian veto was condemned by the USA, Great Britain, France, South Korea and others. They believe Russia silenced the monitoring group because it began speaking out about Kremlin abuses. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called the veto “a confession.”
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood called the group’s work extremely important and accused Russia of trying to silence its “independent, objective investigations” since it “began reporting flagrant Russian violations of UN Security Council resolutions last year.” He believes that a Muscovite veto would “encourage North Korea to continue to threaten global security by developing “long-range ballistic missiles and trying to avoid sanctions.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby denounced Russia’s veto as a “reckless move” that undermines sanctions imposed on North Korea, while warning against deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia, especially as North Korea continues to supply Moscow’s authorities. war against Ukraine.
Britain’s UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said Russia’s veto did not demonstrate “concerns about the North Korean people or the effectiveness of sanctions.”
The point is that Russia is given the freedom to evade and violate sanctions in pursuit of weapons that will be used against Ukraine. This commission, which exposed non-compliance with sanctions, created inconvenience for Russia, Woodward said.
French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière added that “North Korea is providing Russia with military materials in support of its aggression against Ukraine, violating many resolutions that Russia voted for.”
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called the Russian veto “a confession.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.