© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
Following a closed-door UN security council meeting this Thursday requested by Russia and China, US ambassador Nikki Haley told press members that Russia is trying "to lift banking restrictions" against North Korea, an option which she says is off the table: "So now we know what their agenda is, we know exactly why they're trying to do it and we're not going to let it happen."
At the meeting, the Russian Mission to the UN released a statement referring to "serious humanitarian problems" resulting from the current American-championed sanctions. The statement claims the restrictions are interfering with the ability of nonprofits and humanitarian aid organizations to work in North Korea - even though they're not directly subject to the sanctions regime. It urges the council "to examine as soon as possible the options to rectify the situation using the entire tool set available to the UNSC."
Echoing Trump's statements on the matter, Haley responded that sanctions would not be lifted since the North Koreans "haven't done anything to warrant us getting rid of them yet," adding that "The threat is still there."
Earlier this year Haley accused Russia of violating the sanctions agreements and asked the UN to impose punishment. Russia, China and South Korea, in turn, have been pushing for the US to make small concessions in order to facilitate dialogue.
Comment: There is a bit of perception management going on with this latest development. Before the Saudi announcement there was news with statements making it appear as if the U.S. were the ones behind the decision. For example: Saudi Arabia knows it's better to dump than be dumped, however. So it was actually the Saudis who "requested" for the U.S. to stop the refueling, because they now had the capability to do it on their own. That was fine with the U.S., who would rather avoid having to punish their head-chopper allies in the Gulf: