MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The UN Security Council’s sanctions on Pyongyang should be limited in time, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Sanctions don’t make the situation in the region safer. Why not begin by setting specific time limits for them in the foreseeable future?" she noted. "Peaceful steps, as well as efforts to restore trust and take the legitimate interests of the Korean people into account, would be in high demand today. They should lead to a fair political process that would replace attempts to create smoke and mirrors on the ambition of Washington and its allies, which are directed against Pyongyang," Zakharova stressed.

She said that indefinite sanctions on North Korea were "a thing of the past" and only Western countries were interested in keeping them in place. According to the Russian diplomat, these restrictions are doing no good, while affecting the country’s population in the most negative way.

Zakharova emphasized Moscow was confident that any restrictions initially suppressed willingness to engage in negotiations and reduce tensions around the Korean Peninsula.

Earlier, Moscow exercised its veto to block a UN Security Council draft resolution submitted by the US, which extended the mandate of an expert panel at the UNSC Sanctions Committee on North Korea until April 30, 2025. Thirteen of the 15 UN Security Council members voted in favor of the document and China abstained.

The move was in line with Russia’s interests, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Moscow could not sit idly by watching sanctions turn into indiscriminate weapons to punish countries.