US and Russia clash over use and impact of UN sanctions

By EDITH M.. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China in the U.N. Security Council  over the usefulness and impact of U.N. sanctions, currently imposed on countries from North Korea to Yemen and Congo as well the al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups and their affiliates and supporters. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said many sanctions regimes interfere with plans for state-building and economic development, pointing to Central African Republic and Sudan. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered Monday that sanctions are “a potent tool” that “make it harder for terrorists to raise funds via international financial systems.”