Increasing in severity as they have, sanctions against the DPRK have not inflicted the maximum punitive effect intended. This is not due to the inefficacy of sanctions, many argue, but rather the failure of specific countries of faithfully implement them to the fullest.

Among the parties drawing accusations of half-hearted compliance is Russia, to which the dubious distinction of having created the concept of “coal laundering” belongs.

And given the Russian Federation’s failure to comply with sanctions on some of the latest targets of North Korean sanctions – coal as well as fuel shipments– it was perhaps only