Accused by the West of importing weapons from North Korea, Russia imposed an end to the tracking system on Thursday UN sanctions against Pyongyang and its nuclear programa decision that was denounced by many members of the Security Council.
Moscow vetoed a draft resolution that extended the mandate of the panel of experts overseeing these sanctions by one year, supported by 13 of the panel’s 15 members. China abstained from voting.
“What Russia did today undermines world peace and security, all to further a corrupt agreement that Moscow made with Pyongyang,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
North Korea has been an object since 2006 Security Council sanctions, mainly related to the nuclear program, which were tightened several times in 2016 and 2017.
Since 2019, Russia and China have been trying in vain to persuade the Council to relax these measures, which have no expiration date.
In this context, Moscow believes that “the committee continues to focus its work on irrelevant issues.” who are not able to cope with the problems of the peninsula,” said Russian Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia.
“If there was an agreement on an annual renewal of sanctions, the mandate of the expert committee would make sense,” he said, denouncing the refusal of the United States and its allies to accept this change.
“Irresponsible” Russian veto
South Korea called Russia’s veto “irresponsible” on Friday This blocked the renewal of a UN panel of experts tasked with monitoring international sanctions against North Korea.
In a statement, the South Korean Foreign Ministry “clearly points out that the Russian Federation, despite its status as a permanent member of the…”He “The UN Security Council made an irresponsible decision.”
Russia’s veto, which was also criticized by the USA, comes at a time of crisis clear diplomatic approach to North Koreawith allegations that Pyongyang was supplying Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine.
“acknowledge guilt”
The expert committee emphasized this again in its most recent report from the beginning of March North Korea continues to flout “Security Council sanctions”in particular by further developing its nuclear program, launching ballistic missiles, violating maritime sanctions and restrictions on oil imports.
It also said it had begun investigating “information from member states about North Korea’s supplies of conventional arms and ammunition” to other states, particularly Russia.
This veto is not a sign of the concern of the North Korean people or the effectiveness of the sanctions. “This is about Russia being given the freedom to violate sanctions in order to search for weapons to use against Ukraine,” denounced British Ambassador Barbara Woodward.
This veto “is actually an admission of guilt.” “Moscow is no longer hiding its military cooperation with North Korea (…) and the use of North Korean weapons in the war against Ukraine,” commented Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“Given (North Korea’s) repeated attempts to undermine international peace and security, the work of the committee is more important than ever,” 10 council members, including the United States, France and the United States, said in a joint statement shortly before the vote States Kingdom and South Korea.
“There can be no justification for the disappearance of the guardians of the sanctions regime,” criticized South Korean Ambassador Joonkook Hwang. “It’s like destroying surveillance cameras to avoid being caught in the act.”
China abstained from voting, supported Russian calls for a reassessment of sanctions.
“Sanctions should not be set in stone or unlimited,” said Beijing’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang, noting that these measures had “aggravated tensions” on the peninsula and had a “negative” impact on the humanitarian situation.
With information from AFP.
ORP