The U.S. and its allies excoriated North Korea on Wednesday over its continued development of nuclear weapons and deepening military cooperation with Russia in the Ukraine war, speaking at a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Pyongyang’s sanctions violations.

But Moscow’s representative defended his country’s alliance with the DPRK and accused the West of harboring a “Cold War” mentality, betraying continuing UNSC division over the international sanctions regime.

Wednesday’s meeting was convened at the request of seven UNSC member states to review ongoing violations of the council’s resolutions, one year after the dissolution of the Panel of Experts monitoring DPRK