Adding to the allegations coming from unnamed Western sources of North Korean sanctions violations, officials are now accusing a pair of private, Russia-flagged ships of having sold fuel to North Korean vessels on the open sea, and are saying this violates UN sanctions.
Details on what was sold and how much of it are scant, and one such instance saw the ship in question only carrying crude oil, which would not be illegal to sell to North Korea in the first place. The officials behind the allegations say there is no evidence of Russian government knowledge or involvement.
Everything centers around a pair of cargo ships, one identified as the Vityaz, which are operating out of Yladivostok, on the Russian Pacific coast. The officials claim they’ve repeatedly been caught on satellite doing ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean vessels on satellite, though obviously this again makes it unclear what they’re transferring, and presumptions that it is refined petrochemicals, which are severely limited under UN sanctions, seem unverified.
The Vityaz at least once appears to have gone out telling the Russian government their destination was a Russian fishing fleet in the Sea of Japan, but ended up meeting a Korean tanker instead, one which had its transponder off. The owner of the ship denied any wrongdoing.
These seem from quantities and ship types to be refueling of ships, rather than transport of cargo into North Korea.
Re-fueling ships has special rules. Like provisions for crew and repairs to be seaworthy, they are not limited even to combatants from a neutral.
Russian? I have been told that they were Chinese. What is going on here?
Both China and Russia deny forgetting the sanctions ,could be some independent free enterprise business men . both Russia and China have them
those all knowing unnamed sources are confused. lol
I think Kim is weakening . As he just said there is no way he is going to give up nuclear weapons as long as the USA and South Korea are playing war games along his borders . Does that mean he is about ready to give up his nuclear weapons if the United States pulls out of South Korea and stops playing war games on his border ? I would think Trump would be glad to do this .It sure beats some of the other ideas on the table .
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/12/26/2017-27899/a-federal-strategy-to-ensure-secure-and-reliable-supplies-of-critical-minerals
I believe the US will use this as the basis for initiating a conventional war with North Korea. I mean, what use is a nuclear conflict to US mining multinationals if massive radiation for extended periods disables their workforce.
I think similar sentiment exists regarding Iran and its oil fields. While ANWAR may require a few years of development before full scale production, domestic shale oil is in danger because of costs far exceeding oil’s spot price and the ignored issue of contaminated aquifers.
We can’t very well have millions of citizens suing the federal government over ignoring environmental and health concerns with attendant cancer incidence spikes.
ahh the ever present all knowing unamed sources. weren’t they just accusing china of this too?
They are too scared to confront China so they pick a fight with Russia.
I would guess Russia and China have partnered up So NATO can’t get in a war with either one with out getting into a war with both of them . Both China and Russia don’t intend to be dismembered like Yugoslavia was They both have developed a lot of new weapons that they would like to show NATO how well these new weapons work .
Thank you for letting me comment most other antiwar authors don’t let me comment they say I have been banned by antiwar .
The authors don’t ban people. The moderators do — and I do almost all of the moderation. I see that you are banned from the “original” section of the site, and it’s under a tag that indicates I implemented the ban for hate speech. Bans are not necessarily permanent, and you seem to be behaving over here, so I will unban you.