Russia's oil shipments to North Korea breach UN sanctions, expose rising authoritarian ties

Kim Jong Un to meet with Vladimir Putin TOPSHOT - Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prior to their talks at the Far Eastern Federal University campus on Russky island in the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok on April 25, 2019. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP) ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO© East News, ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO

Russia has begun supplying oil directly to North Korea, which indicates a breach of UN sanctions aimed at stopping Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and further cements ties between the two authoritarian regimes - the British newspaper "Financial Times" reported on Tuesday.

Satellite images, which were provided to the newspaper by the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), show that at least five North Korean tankers set out this month, starting from 6 March, for oil products to the port of Vostochny on the Russian Far East.

As "FT" emphasizes, these are the first documented, direct maritime oil deliveries from Russia, since in 2017 the UN Security Council, with Moscow's approval, set a strict limit on supplying this raw material in response to North Korea's nuclear tests.

These oil deliveries represent an overt attack on the sanctions regime, which is now on the verge of collapse - said Hugh Griffiths, former coordinator of the UN panel that monitors sanctions against North Korea.

The ships, which fly under the North Korean flag and are classified as tankers, entered the same berth in the port of Vostochny, which is operated by a Russian oil company, where, as the pictures show, loading was carried out. Satellite images confirmed that two ships then left the port of Vostochny for the North Korean port of Chongjin, where apparently unloading was carried out - describes "FT".