MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Russia is a responsible member of the global community and does not violate the UN Security Council’s sanctions against North Korea, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"Russia is a responsible member of the international community, which complies with international rules and international obligations," the Kremlin spokesman noted.
Reuters reported on Friday citing some Western European intelligence sources that North Korean coal could be delivered to South Korea and Japan via Russia in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.
According to this report, Pyongyang shipped coal to the Russian ports of Nakhodka and Kholmsk at least three times after August 2017, when the UN Security Council banned North Korean coal exports. There it was unloaded at docks and allegedly reloaded onto ships that took it to South Korea and Japan, the sources alleged. Reuters provided no official comments that could confirm this information.
The news agency admitted that it "could not independently verify whether the coal unloaded at the Russian docks was the same coal that was then shipped to South Korea and Japan."
On August 5, 2017, the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against Pyongyang in response to the launch of the Hwansong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile. The UN resolution banned exports of a number of minerals and products from North Korea, including coal, iron, lead and seafood. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said on numerous occasions that Russia fully complies with the sanctions imposed on North Korea.