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Tensions on the Korean Peninsula

Russian senator calls decision to increase sanctions against North Korea inefficient

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution on another round of sanctions against North Korea

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. The UN Security Council’s resolution to tighten sanctions against North Korea is an inevitable response to the country’s provocative actions, though further economic restrictions will be inefficient, Russian Federation Council legislator Konstantin Kosachev said on Tuesday.

"Russia’s support of the resolution does not contradict its position that the sanctions resource has almost been depleted. This is what President (of Russia Vladimir - TASS) Putin meant when he said that North Korea would be ‘eating grass’ but would not give up its program if it doesn’t feel safe," Kosachev, who heads the upper house’s foreign affairs committee, stated in a comment on his Facebook page.

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Kremlin: Russia guided by its own interests when approving UN resolution on North Korea

"Currently the world is approaching this threshold when further economic measures will affect population and make it ‘eat grass’. But this is definitely not what the global community is seeking, at least its western part, for which sanctions have not yet become an example of a normal ‘dialogue’ with opponents," he said.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on another round of sanctions against North Korea in response to the country’s sixth nuclear test on Monday. The US-drafted document was supported by all members of the Security Council, including Russia and China. The new resolution bans exports of textiles from North Korea and imposes an embargo on gas condensate deliveries to the country. The UN Security Council also cut the country’s imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products to 500,000 barrels in the period from October 1 to December 31, 2017, and to 2 million barrels for 2018 and beyond.

Kosachev sees the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council as "not only an inevitable response to Pyongyang’s provocative actions," but also as a signal to those "trying to convince the world that the power projected scenario is inevitable and Russia and the People’s Republic of China are unable to agree on the Korean issue." "This is not the case," the senator said, adding that it was Russia and China who proposed a ‘road map’ aiming at breaking the current deadlock.

According to Kosachev, the new round of sanctions against North Korea is "a signal to the country’s leadership that regarding violations of previous resolutions on the issue North Korea cannot have any allies, with all stark divisions between permanent members of the US Security Council on other subjects in place.".

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