Russia is keen to seek new ways to avoid sanctions violations while boosting trade with North Korea, Far East development ministry chief Alexander Kozlov was quoted as having said Wednesday during an annual bilateral trade and cooperation conference in Moscow.

The two sides are actively engaging on ways to settle transactions “of goods that are not prohibited” in rubles to avoid violating UN and U.S. sanctions, Kozlov said in comments carried by Russia’s Interfax News Agency.

“It is difficult to solve the issues of export-import operations due to the ban on bank transactions in the current conditions, but we are in