"The U.S. remains strongly committed to leveraging all our available tools to disrupt this and other schemes intended to support Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and enable (North Korea's) illicit access to the international financial system,

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed expanding bilateral relations. Choe traveled to Russia earlier this week, according to the Russian embassy in North Korea,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on a network of five groups and one person, based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, for enabling payments between Russia and North Korea, the Treasury Department said.