Vladislav Vorotnikov writes:
Russia banned the export of vacuum pumps to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), thus joining the economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against the country adopted in March of this year. Russia also limited activity of the Korean corporation for import of sophisticated equipment, which conducted the purchase of pumps for the needs of the DPRK.
The relevant decree has been signed by the Russian President on December 2, 2013.
It is assumed that the restrictions apply only to the pumping equipment that can be used for the creation or operation of the nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles. However, according to Russian experts restrictions can touch also other industries of the DPRK, which exploit the same types of pumps.
Russia, along with China is the main supplier of pumping equipment to the North Korea. There are no any accurate data on exports, but it is assumed that Russia exports from 15% to 40% of various types of pumps to this country.