The White House announced on Thursday that it had “new information showing that Russia is actively seeking to obtain more ammunition from North Korea”, and to take sanctions against a man accused of having participated in trade between the two countries. John Kirby of the National Security Council recalled that according to US intelligence information, North Korea had recently provided military assistance to Russia.
“Russia has lost over 9,000 pieces of heavy military equipment since the war began (in Ukraine), and thanks in part to multilateral sanctions and export controls, Putin is increasingly desperate to replace them.” , said the Minister of Economy and Finance, Janet Yellen, quoted in the press release. “Schemes like the arms deal sought by this individual show that Putin is turning to suppliers of last resort like Iran and North Korea,” Yellen said.
With these sanctions, any assets of Ashot Mkrtychev in the United States are frozen, and it is forbidden for any person or company to conduct commercial exchanges with him, under penalty of seeing themselves in turn sanctioned by the United States.
