U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday accused Russia of hiding its efforts to undermine international sanctions on North Korea.
"Russia has engaged in a concerted campaign in the Security Council to cover up violations of sanctions, whether they're committed by Russians or citizens of other states," Haley said at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. "The United States has evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations."
Monday's meeting took place after Haley accused Russia of pressuring U.N. experts to alter an independent report implicating Russian actors in violations of sanctions on North Korea, according to NBC News. The United States prevented the report from being made public after it found out that a section recounting violations by Russia and other countries was altered.
"Our viewpoint was not taken into account, unsurprisingly, therefore we insisted on having our position reflected in the document," said Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia.
"Deny, distract, and lie," Haley said in response to Nebenzia's claim. "We have heard the same song many times before, whether it was aiding the Assad regime with chemical weapons, whether it was the attempted murder of the Skripals with a dangerous nerve agent in the United Kingdom, whether it was election meddling in the United States—which didn't work, by the way—and now you've been cheating on sanctions agreements and have gotten caught."
"Lying, cheating, and rogue behavior has become the new norm of the Russian culture," Haley continued.
The Russian ambassador countered that his country wanted its concerns to be included in the final document.
"What we did is describe the reasons, very clearly and detailed, why, with other experts including the American experts, we agreed that the report should contain the changes that reflect our concerns," he said.
U.N. investigators found a "massive increase" in fuel shipments to North Korea involving Russian and Chinese ships. The report also stated that Chinese companies have bought tens of millions of dollars of North Korean iron, steel, and other products. Despite U.N. prohibitions, some Chinese companies have maintained joint ventures with North Korean entities.