Russia on Thursday vetoed the annual update of the UN panel of experts that monitors compliance with sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, Reuters reported.

The move comes after North Korea transferred weapons to Russia, including missiles used by Moscow in the war in Ukraine. Despite the evidence, both Russia and North Korea deny that the Russian armed forces are using North Korean-made weapons or ammunition in Ukraine.

Commenting on Russia’s decision to block monitoring Pyongyang’s compliance with sanctions, South Korea’s ambassador to the UN, Junkuk Hwang, said:

“It’s almost comparable to destroying a CCTV camera to avoid being caught in the act.

China abstained from Thursday’s vote, while the other 13 members of the UN Security Council voted in favor.

“Moscow has undermined the prospect of a peaceful and diplomatic solution to one of the world’s most dangerous problems of nuclear proliferation,” said Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the United Nations, after the vote.

How Russia justifies voting in the UN

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasyl Nebenzia, questioned the work of the expert group, saying before the vote that “its work is increasingly reduced to playing on Western accounts, republishing biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and low-quality photos.”

North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, with restrictions tightened over the years.

The Commission of Independent Experts to Monitor Sanctions Compliance was established 15 years ago and reports twice a year to the UN Security Council and recommends action.

The mandate of the current commission expires on April 30.

Its latest report was released earlier in March, which said it was investigating dozens of cyberattacks believed to have been carried out by North Korean hackers that cost Pyongyang $3 billion to develop its nuclear weapons program.

Russia and China support the easing of sanctions against North Korea

“The commission, through its work to uncover the facts of non-compliance with sanctions, has created an inconvenience for Russia,” said Barbara Woodward, the British ambassador to the United Nations.

“But I want to be as clear as possible to Russia: the sanctions regime remains in place and the UK continues to monitor North Korea’s compliance,” she added.

In recent years, the UN Security Council has been divided over how to deal with Pyongyang’s weapons programs. Russia and China, the council’s two veto-wielding members, along with the US, Britain and France, say new sanctions won’t help and are campaigning to ease existing ones.

Instead, Washington accuses the two countries of encouraging North Korea by shielding it from sanctions.