US imposes sanctions on Russians who helped Moscow get weapons from North Korea

The US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on 15 May against two Russian individuals and three legal entities that facilitated arms transfers between Russia and North Korea.

Source: a statement by the US Treasury Department, European Pravda writes

Details: The arms supply scheme between Russia and North Korea is linked to Slovakian citizen and arms dealer Ashot Mkrtychev, against whom the United States imposed sanctions in March 2023. Despite this, Mkrtychev and his accomplices continued their activities through intermediaries.

One of them is Russian Rafael Gazaryan, who negotiated on behalf of Mkrtychev to obtain various types of weapons and ammunition for Russia from North Korea and headed one of his companies (which the US also sanctioned).

Another Russian, Alexei Budnev, according to the US Treasury Department, facilitated the supply of military communications equipment to Russia, "that likely originated from the DPRK intended to support the Russian military".

Trans Kapital and Rafort companies are associated with Gazaryan, and Budnev is the sole owner of Tekhnologiya LLC, which was involved in military supply agreements between Moscow and Pyongyang. All of them are now under US sanctions.

Background:

• Russia and North Korea have stepped up their military cooperation over the past year. It is known that Moscow has received North Korean ballistic missiles and ammunition and has promised Pyongyang its own technologies for satellite and missile programmes in return.
• The United States is concerned that the "strong embrace" between Russia and North Korea could push DPRK leader Kim Jong-un to take risks in terms of threats to South Korea, arms exports, and ignoring calls for nuclear talks.

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