"Russia to provide 1 million barrels of crude oil to North Korea this year...The price of support for the Ukraine war"

Analysts say Russia, which received weapons and troops from North Korea, has sent at least 1 million barrels of crude oil to North Korea since March in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

The Open Source Center, a British non-profit organization, said in a report that satellite imagery analysis confirmed that Russia has supplied crude oil to North Korea 43 times since March 7.

"While Kim Jong-un provides Vladimir Putin with a lifeline to continue the war, Russia is quietly giving North Korea its own lifeline," said Jobon, a senior analyst at the Open Source Center.

Byrne explained that the amount of crude oil Russia has provided to North Korea since March is more than double the annual cap and about 10 times the amount Moscow officially provided to North Korea last year.

Experts pointed out that Russia's supply of crude oil is in return for the weapons and troops sent by North Korea to facilitate the war in Ukraine.

Byrne said Russia's steady supply of oil was providing stability to North Korea not seen since U.N. sanctions.

The start of Russia's crude oil supply to North Korea, tracked by the Open Source Center, came seven months after North Korea sent weapons of war to Russia.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said Russia is increasingly relying on North Korea to secure the weapons and troops it needs to continue the war in Ukraine, and the price is crude oil.

At the same time, Minister Lamy emphasized that such close ties between North Korea and Russia have a direct impact on the security of the Korean Peninsula, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region.

Russia's supply of crude oil raises concerns not only in violation of sanctions against North Korea, which Russia has signed as a permanent member of the United Nations, but also that it could lead to additional military aid to North Korea.

Eric Fenton, director of the Open Source Center, said the close ties between Russia and North Korea were a very serious issue, given that dictatorships are working together more to achieve what they want in defiance of the wishes of the international community.

Fenton Bock, who led the panel of experts from 2021 to 2023, lamented that Russian oil supplies to North Korea show a new level of contempt for sanctions, saying rules could be ignored if the panel disappears.

North Korea is only allowed to bring in 500,000 barrels of refined oil annually due to UN Security Council sanctions adopted in 2017.