Sanctions against North Korea

The appeal by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for the lifting of US CAATSA sanctions in a recent TV interview highlighted the difficulties of US-Turkish relations and the implicit but clear admission that Washington and Ankara are looking for a formula that would under certain conditions allow even the return of Turkey to the F-35 program.

Turkish Defense Ministry sources have neither confirmed nor denied a recent report in Kathimerini that said Turkey and the US are planning to stockpile Russian-made S-400s, with the aim of lifting CAATSA sanctions and returning Turkey to the F-35 procurement program.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the lifting of U.S. sanctions that block his country’s defense supplies and other measures taken “unilaterally” that hinder the ability of NATO allies to achieve long-term bilateral trade goals.

Turkey's effort to get CAATSA sanctions lifted to pave the way for its acquisition of F-35 fighter jets from the United States was confirmed by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his speech in New York and by his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, in an interview last week to the state-run Anadolu Agency in which he referred to a quest for a "creative formula" on the issue.

Russia on Thursday blocked the renewal of a panel of U.N. experts monitoring international sanctions on North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

In a move that has raised alarms across the international community, North Korea launched several cruise missiles from its west coast towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday morning. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea reported the missile launch, emphasizing that the details are under close analysis by intelligence authorities in both South Korea and the United States.

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mariya Gabriel, alongside 46 foreign ministers, have collectively denounced the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) export of ballistic missiles to Russia.

They said that India and China are profiting from the sanctions

China and Russia have vetoed a US attempt to impose new UN sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the organization's Security Council for the first time since the body began imposing sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006, Reuters reported.

U.N. experts say North Korea has increased imports and exports of banned and restricted goods such as coal and petroleum products as it continues to enhance its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of sanctions.