US imposes sanctions on Slovak citizen

On Thursday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Slovak citizen Ashot Mkrtichev, who was accused of trying to arrange arms shipments from North Korea to Russia.

This is stated in a statement by the US Treasury Department.

The US authorities suspect Mkrtichev of trying to directly or indirectly establish arms exports from the DPRK, in violation of the sanctions regime against the country.

In particular, from late 2022 to early 2023, the Slovak citizen interacted with North Korean officials to "obtain more than two dozen types of weapons and ammunition for Russia in exchange for materials ranging from commercial aircraft to raw materials and goods to be sent to the DPRK".

"Mkrtichev and DPRK representatives and Russian officials discussed in detail the mutually beneficial cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including financial payments and barter deals. He confirmed Russia's readiness to receive military equipment from the DPRK in talks with Russian officials," the US Treasury Department said.

In addition, Mkrtichev worked with an unnamed Russian official to find commercial aircraft suitable for delivering certain goods to North Korea.

"Schemes like the arms deal that this man tried to set up a show that Putin is looking for extreme sources of arms supply like Iran and North Korea," commented US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Author - Olena Madiak, 30/03/2023