Sanctioned Russian Cargo Plane Visited North Korea Before Heading Towards China

A Russian cargo plane sanctioned by the United States touched down in North Korea's capital Pyongyang this week, the DongA Ilbo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Il-76 freighter, which departed from Moscow on March 6, arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on Monday before heading towards China around two hours later, the South Korean daily reported, citing flight tracking web sites.

Such visits to the North Korean capital by a large private Russian cargo plane are rare, the newspaper said.

Russian cargo airline JSC Aviacon Zitotrans, which owns the Il-76, was targeted with sanctions by Washington last year as part of efforts to impede Russia's war in Ukraine.

"JSC Aviacon Zitotrans (Aviacon Zitotrans) is a Russian cargo airline that has handled cargo shipments for sanctioned Russian Federation defense entities," the U.S. Treasury said in a press release at that time.

Seoul-based NK News also reported that the cargo plane left Shanghai's Pudong International Airport at around 5:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) on Monday and flew north across the Yellow Sea before making a sudden turn towards Pyongyang around 1.5 hours into the flight, citing the aviation tracker Flightradar24.

Aviacon Zitotrans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has deepened its ties with North Korea, prompting the United States and its allies to accuse Pyongyang of supplying Russia with munitions for its war effort.

Both Russia and North Korea have denied this and the Kremlin has said its cooperation with Pyongyang does not contravene international agreements.

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