Why Russia is violating sanctions against North Korea

Samuel Ramani examines why Russia is undermining the international agreement to isolate North Korea until Kim Jong-un gives up its nuclear programme.

In an article for The Washington Post Samuel Ramani argues that, although at the United Nations Moscow has consistently voted for US-led sanction proposals against Pyong Yang, unofficially it has a very different take from Washington.  President Putin, he believes, has two goals.  First, Russia is concerned that excessively punitive sanctions which hit North Korea's economy hard could further destabilise the country.   He also argues that President Putin believes he can reap political benefits from resisting US-led sanctions policies.

Read Samuel Ramani's analysis in The Washington Post on "Why Russia is openly violating sanctions against North Korea".