Donald Trump Accuses Russia Of Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions
Donald Trump expressed his frustration against Russia saying that the country is helping North Korea evade UN-imposed sanctions. The president is clearly disappointed as he had hoped to forge friendly relations with after his 2016 election win.
"Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. "What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing."
The statement, which part of the 53-minute interview on whether talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be useful, was just one of the many complaints Mr. Trump made regarding the situation with North Korea. The president also expressed his concerns that Pyongyang is getting "closer every day" to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States.
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China and Russia both signed into the latest rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea which were imposed last year. However, both countries have been caught violating said sanctions with Russia continuing to host North Korean migrant workers and China supplying oil to the country.
Mr. Trump declined to comment when he was asked whether he had engaged in any communications at all with Kim. This is despite claiming that he had a "good relationship" with the North Korean leader.
"I'd sit down, but I'm not sure that sitting down will solve the problem," he said. "I'm not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful. They've talked for 25 years and they've taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents."
In addition to blaming Russia and China for not cooperating, Mr. Trump also blamed his three predecessors – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – for failing to resolve the crisis.
North Korea is currently undergoing talks with South Korea to ease tensions in the region as well as for the former to send athletes to the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympic games to be held in Pyeongchang.
