Russia said on Friday that United Nations sanctions on North Korea were an obstacle to fostering dialogue and peace on the Korean peninsula and had not aided regional security.
The U.N. Security Council should simultaneously address the nuclear program and the human rights abuses that are inseparable aspects of the Kim Jong Un regime.
China and Russia vetoed on Thursday a U.S.-led push to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the U.N. Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006.