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Russia’s UN envoy comments on sanctions against North Korea

According to the Russian diplomat, US sanctions cannot resolve the North Korean problem

UNITED NATIONS, September 4. /TASS/. Sanctions have practically exhausted their potential as a tool to exert pressure on North Korea and a further package of sanctions suggested by the United States may fail to help settle the situation in the Korean Peninsula, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday, commenting on Washington’s plans to initiate a United Nations Security Council resolution toughening the anti-North Korean sanctions in response to its latest nuclear test.

"We have already said that the sanction resource of pressure on North Korea has been practically exhausted," he said. "Our goal is to settle the Korean Peninsula problem. I am not sure another package of sanction can reach this goal bearing in mind that a rather tough sanction resolution 2371 was passed by consensus just a month ago but has not yet been fully implemented."

He said he doesn’t rule out the US-initiated draft resolution would provide for to excessively tough and ill-conceived measures but noted the document, which has not yet been circulated, would require analysis.

According to the Russian diplomat, no sanctions as such could resolve the North Korean problem. Settlement, in his words, will require the resumption of six-lateral talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Nenbenya once again drew attention to Russia’s and China’s North Korean settlement roadmap that envisages a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange of cessation of the United States’ and South Korea’s large-scale military drills. "It is still on the table. It is literally the only political and diplomatic tool we now have to resolve the problem of the Korean Peninsula," he stressed.

Earlier in the day, the United States’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley voiced criticism of the Russian-Chinese initiative, denouncing the very idea of stopping military drills as insulting. Meanwhile, the Russian diplomat told journalists he had not understood his US colleague. "I did not want to answer that but I could only wonder what can be insulting about it. It is the only initiative that offers a political way out of this situation," he said.

On Sunday, North Korea officially announced a successful test of a hydrogen bomb that could be used as a warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The news met tough reaction of the world community. North Korea’s actions were condemned by many countries, including China and Russia. South Korea and the United States said they did not rule out a possible military response to North Korea’s actions.

The Russian foreign ministry called on all parties concerned to immediately get back to dialogue and talks as the only possible way to reach an all-round settlement in the Korean Peninsula.