MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. The West’s reluctance to engage in efforts toward reaching a settlement on the Korean Peninsula effectively nullifies its attempts to steamroll the adoption of a resolution against North Korea by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a comment.

In an interview with reporter Pavel Zarubin, an excerpt of which was posted on the journalist’s Telegram channel, Lavrov said: "There has been talk of nuclear weapons somehow being deployed in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, in South Korea, and in Japan." "Their flat refusal to address any political issues puts an end to any further attempts to force through a resolution on sanctions [against North Korea] at the [UN] Security Council," he said.

Russia’s top diplomat recalled that the previous sanctions against North Korea had been imposed amid quite a different geopolitical situation. "But since the latest resolution was adopted, we have said that no additional sanctions will be imposed on North Korea, a position that was shared by our Chinese counterparts," Lavrov said.

"In the spring of 2022, when the United States sought to pass another resolution, we did not let them. Moreover, we and our Chinese friends prepared a draft resolution that was aimed at tackling major humanitarian issues that the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - TASS) is facing. And yet another resolution aimed at restoring political processes as part of the tasks of strengthening security in Northeast Asia. Instead, the Americans have been pumping arms supplies here jointly with South Korea and Japan, while involving Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand in these games," Lavrov lamented.