Russia has blocked the renewal of a UN panel monitoring sanctions against North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The move was met with a flurry of criticism, including by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who took to social media to call the veto “a guilty plea” amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kyiv.
The United States called the veto by Russia a “self-interested effort to bury the panel’s reporting on its own collusion” with North Korea.
Moscow’s veto at the security council does not remove the sanctions on North Korea, but spells the end for the group monitoring their implementation – and myriad alleged violations. The panel’s mandate expires at the end of April.
They’d be very stupid to not veto an investigation into themselves.