The UN accused Russia of violating sanctions against North Korea

UN experts have concluded that one of the ballistic missiles Russia used to strike the Ukrainian city of Kharkov earlier this year was produced in North Korea. Reuters writes about this with reference to the report of the Group of Experts for Monitoring Sanctions against the DPRK.

As follows from the 32-page document, the debris of the rocket that fell in Kharkov on January 2, 2024 was examined by three UN experts. They confirmed that it was a North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missile, which, according to Ukrainian authorities, was launched from Russian territory.

According to the authors of the report, this indicates a violation by the Russian authorities of the embargo on arms imports from the DPRK, which the UN imposed against Pyongyang in 2006. Official representatives of Russia and North Korea have not yet commented on the findings of UN experts and have not responded to Reuters requests.

Previously, representatives of the American administration have repeatedly stated that Russia is receiving weapons and ammunition for the war in Ukraine from North Korea. According to John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the US National Security Council, in return Pyongyang is asking Moscow for military equipment, including fighter jets, as well as advanced military technologies. In turn, representatives of the South Korean authorities claimed that North Korea supplied more than a million artillery shells to Russia. Russia and North Korea denied this.

In 2006, the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions, including an arms embargo, on North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program and ballistic missile development. In September 2023, Vladimir Putin said that Russia was complying with these restrictions.

In March 2024, Russia blocked the annual renewal of the mandate of the North Korea Sanctions Monitoring Group, which had monitored compliance with UN sanctions against Pyongyang for 15 years.

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