Russia says UN should consider sanctions relief for N Korea

The UN Security Council should consider steps toward lifting sanctions on North Korea following its agreement with the United States to scrap its nuclear program, Russia's UN ambassador said today.

The council last year adopted three rounds of tough economic sanctions on North Korea, banning most of its exports of raw commodities and severely restricting oil supplies.

Asked about lifting sanctions, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters: "I think that it is only natural that we should be thinking about steps in that direction."
"There is progress on the track that should be reciprocal. There should be a two-way street," he said. "Of course the other side should see encouragement to go forward."
At the first-ever meeting between sitting leaders of the US and North Korea yesterday in Singapore, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un pledged in a joint statement to work toward the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."