Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday said Russia is “convinced” that economic measures by the UN to dissuade North Korea from pursuing its nuclear program are no longer effective.

“With regard to using our influence on Pyongyang in order to make it comply with the well-known UN Security Council resolutions, we are deeply convinced that the economic pressure has practically run its course,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow following talks with his Bolivian counterpart Fernando Huanacuni Mamani.

“We cannot support the ideas that some of our partners continue to nurture, which literally seek to strangle North