Oren Dorell

USA TODAY

The Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers expressed concern that Russia is increasing trade with North Korea as the United States demands the North roll back its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The State Department and several U.S. officials responded after USA TODAY reported Monday that Russia boosted its trade with North Korea by 73% in the first two months of this year. Russia stepped in as China curbed its trade to the isolated nation after President Trump called for pressure on the North. China is North Korea's chief political and economic benefactor.

“We have seen reports about Russia apparently making up for China sanctions on North Korea,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “We are asking Russia to join us in showing North Korea that the only path to a secure, economically prosperous future is to abandon its unlawful programs that endanger international peace and security.”

Nauert added that it is unclear whether the Russian activity constitutes a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that imposed sanctions on North Korea, which Russia supported. “This is some new information that’s just coming out, so we’re continuing to take a look at that. We’re just starting," Nauert said.

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A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N. said that by expanding trade with North Korea, Russia is exploiting one of several loopholes in the Security Council sanctions, and that it should stop immediately. The spokesman declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The sanctions allow certain cross-border trade and fuel shipments that do not benefit North Korea’s illegal weapons programs. Countries that defy U.N. Security Council resolutions are defying international law, the spokesman said.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers urged Russia to join Trump and China in isolating North Korea to impact its weapons program.

“Moscow has admitted that (North Korea leader) Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program poses ‘a direct threat to Russia,’ and now it needs to help press the North Korean regime to stop its dangerous behavior, not aid and abet,” said House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif.

Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the committee, said: “We need to watch this very closely and act if Russian entities violate U.S. or U.N. sanctions.”

The two committee members co-sponsored legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would impose the toughest U.S. sanctions yet on North Korea and on companies that facilitate its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The measure has not passed the Senate.

Engel said North Korea is good at evading sanctions. “This development with Russia only underscores that the United States cannot outsource the North Korea problem to Beijing,” he said.