Russia delivered more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea in March alone, a White House official said Thursday, noting its shipments thus far have already pushed Pyongyang’s imports above an annual cap mandated by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC).

National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby made the remarks as he criticized Russia’s veto of a UNSC resolution that led to the expiration of an expert panel monitoring the enforcement of anti-North Korea sanctions last month.

“In March alone, Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum (to the North),” Kirby said. “Given the close proximity of Russian and North Korean commercial ports, Russia could sustain these shipments indefinitely.”

Under UNSC sanctions, the North is banned from importing more than 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products per year.

Kirby stressed that Washington will continue efforts to disrupt trade in weapons and oil between the North and Russia.

“The United States is going to continu
e to impose sanctions against all those working to facilitate arms and refined petroleum transfers between Russia and the DPRK,” he said. DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Commenting on this issue, Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said that the U.S. is currently working with its partners, including South Korea, Britain, Australia, the European Union, New Zealand and Japan, to announce new coordinated sanctions designations this month.

The disclosure about the Russian shipments came as the mandate of the expert panel ended Tuesday following Russia’s veto late March of a UNSC resolution that would have extended the mandate in what had been an annual renewal.

Kirby called Moscow’s veto a “calculated” move to hide its own violations of UNSC resolutions.

Through regular reports, the panel had laid bare various cases of sanction violations. Its latest report this year touched on arms trade between Moscow and Pyongyang, which Seoul, Washington
and others berated as violations of multiple UNSC sanctions.

“By disbanding the panel of experts, Russia is also attempting to obscure its violations of binding Security Council resolutions,” Kirby said.

With the expiration of the panel’s mandate, South Korea, the U.S., Japan and other nations have been looking for alternative measures to help ensure sanctions compliance.

On Wednesday, 50 countries issued a joint statement, stressing the need to consider how to keep access to “objective” and “independent” analysis regarding the enforcement of anti-North Korea sanctions.

Source: Yonhap News Agency