Russia has vetoed the United Nations’ renewal of a panel of UN experts monitoring North Korea’s compliance with international sanctions. This move follows accusations from the United States, South Korea and others that Pyongyang is supplying Moscow with weapons to use in its war in Ukraine. Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the council before the vote that Western nations were trying to “strangle” North Korea and that sanctions were losing their “relevance” and becoming “detached from reality” in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the country. US’s deputy UN ambassador, Robert Wood, warned that Russia’s veto would embolden North Korea to continue jeopardizing global security through the development “of long-range ballistic missiles and sanctions evasion efforts”.