US says Russia is sending oil to North Korea above levels required by UN

Washington:

Russia has been quietly shipping refined oil to North Korea at levels that appear to violate United Nations Security Council mandates, a U.S. official said Thursday, adding that the United States is planning new sanctions in response.

The revelation came the first day after a UN panel of experts monitoring the implementation of long-standing sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and missile programs was disbanded following a Russian veto.

“At the same time as Moscow vetoed the renewal of the panel’s mandate, Russia has been shipping refined oil from Port Vostochny to the DPRK (North Korea). Russian shipments have already pushed DPRK imports above the annual limit of 500,000 barrels ordered by the UN Security Council,” the US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said that in March alone, Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined oil to North Korea and that, given the proximity of Russian and North Korean commercial ports, Russia could sustain these shipments indefinitely.

Russia blocked the panel’s annual renewal in late March in what the U.S. official described as a calculated move by Moscow to conceal its own violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The official said the United States will continue to impose sanctions “against those who work to facilitate arms and refined oil transfers between Russia and the DPRK.”

“We have previously worked to coordinate autonomous sanctions designations with our partners – including Australia, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom – and will continue to do so,” the official said.

North Korea has been helping Russia in its war against Ukraine by providing it with ballistic missiles.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated channel.)