US has threatened further sanctions against North Korea and Russia

Once more, the Biden administration has threatened sanctions in the event that Pyongyang gives Moscow weapons.

If Pyongyang delivers weaponry to Moscow in the midst of the Ukrainian conflict, Washington has threatened to impose fresh sanctions on both North Korea and Russia. The US also declared that it would vigorously enforce current regulations.

“I would remind both countries that any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said to reporters on Monday in Washington. “We, of course, have vigorously enforced our sanctions against entities that fund Russia’s war effort. We will continue to enforce those sanctions, and we won’t hesitate to impose new sanctions if necessary.”

Miller spoke soon before Tuesday’s rare meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vladivostok. According to sources in Western media, Kim wants to talk with Russia about expanding their military cooperation, although the Kremlin has stated that the summit will centre on a number of “sensitive issues.”

Arrival of Kim Jong-un in Russia
Learn more. Arrival of Kim Jong-un in Russia
Because North Korea has one of the greatest artillery arsenals in the world, there are concerns in the West that Kim will sell Russia weapons for use in Ukraine. Last week, the US National Security Advisor asserted that talks between North Korea and Russia on a weapons deal were “advancing.” He claimed US officials had warned North Korea that it would “pay a price for this in the international community” if it provided weapons to Moscow, but he did not specify what steps would be done.

Miller contended that by asking Kim, a “international pariah,” for assistance, Putin was virtually confessing to “strategic failure” in Ukraine. “Not only has he failed to accomplish his objectives on the battlefield, but you see him travelling across his own country, hat in hand, to beg Kim Jong-un for military assistance,” the speaker continued.

The administration of President Joe Biden will closely watch how the Putin-Kim negotiations turn out, according to Miller. He claimed that the fact that Putin and Kim are meeting shows that Washington has been successful in denying Moscow the technology and raw materials it needs to sustain its military operation against Ukraine when questioned about why the US would impose additional sanctions given that its current sanctions have been ineffective.

Miller argued that Kiev was producing noticeable successes despite the fact that the much-heralded counteroffensive it launched against Russian soldiers in early June failed to recover substantial tracts of land. “We continue to assess that the Ukrainians are making progress in their counteroffensive, and we have confidence in the capability of their forces,” he added.

Since the start of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military has lost 71,500 personnel, 543 tanks, and roughly 18,000 armoured vehicles, according to President Putin, who spoke on Tuesday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.