US and Russia clash over use and impact of UN sanctions

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China in the U.N. Security Council on Monday over the usefulness and impact of U.N. sanctions, which are currently imposed on countries from North Korea to Yemen and Congo as well the al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups and their affiliates and supporters.

Russia, which holds the council presidency this meeting and chose the topic -- preventing humanitarian and unintended consequences of sanctions -- also lashed out at unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and other countries and groups.

U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council there are 14 U.N. sanctions regimes: As examples, in Libya, Mali, South Sudan and Yemen they support conflict resolution; in Guinea Bissau they aim to deter unconstitutional changes of government; in Central African Republic, Congo and Somalia they curb the illicit exploitation of natural resources that fund armed groups; in North Korea, they target proliferation activities; and they constrain Islamic State and al-Qaida terrorist threats.

DiCarlo said U.N. sanctions are no longer “the blunt instrument they once were.” Since the 1990s, they have undergone changes to minimize possible adverse consequences on civilians and third countries, and the Security Council has included and provided humanitarian exemptions in most sanctions regimes, she said.

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky, who chaired the meeting, said many sanctions regimes interfere with plans for state-building and economic development, pointing to Central African Republic and Sudan and calling the measures on Guinea Bissau “anachronistic.”

The Security Council needs “to take greater heed of what the authorities of states under sanctions...