Russia made no attempts to influence the independent panel of experts responsible for the United Nations report on the North Korea sanctions regime, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2018) Russia made no attempts to influence the independent panel of experts responsible for the United Nations report on the North Korea sanctions regime, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.
On Sunday, US media reported that the initial draft of a new UN report found North Korea was able to cheat sanctions and the experts called latest punitive measures ineffective. The article followed a statement by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in which she accused Russia of pressuring the panel to change the report.
"We were not trying to exert pressure on the panel of experts. We were trying to abide by the rules and procedures of the sanctions committee," Nebenzia told the UN Security Council.
Nebenzia explained that experts usually send inquiries to Russia when any kind of accusations are being made in a report and logically the response should have been provided in the draft, but Russia's viewpoint was not taken into account this time.
Russia insisted that its reaction must be reflected in response to allegations, the Russian ambassador said.
Nebenzia pointed out a compromise was reached through long negotiations with experts from different countries, including the United States, and added that Washington is the only party preventing the publication of the independent report at present.
According to The Wall Street journal, the report says that North Korea has been involved in arms sales to Syria, Yemen, Libya and other conflict zones, despite the sanctions regime imposed on that country.
The document also reportedly notes a spike in North Korea's fuel imports through transfers carried out by Russian and Chinese vessels and cites examples of coal shipments from the country to China.
