• The US is cracking down on Russia's oil industry, with broader sanctions introduced on Friday.
• The US and UK are blocking two Russian energy giants and other entities in the nation's oil trade.
• Russia's energy revenue is expected to account for more than a quarter of the nation's budget in 2025.

The US is tightening the screws on one of the key pillars of Russia's wartime economy: its energy business.

The US said it would join the United Kingdom in imposing wider-sweeping sanctions against Russia's oil industry on Friday, which include blocking Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, two of Russia's largest oil producers.

Sanctions will also be imposed on the producers' subsidiaries, as well as 183 tankers associated with Russia's oil trade, according to a statement from the Treasury Department. Some of the sanctioned tankers were part of Russia's shadow fleet, a group of ships Russia is known to rely on to trade oil under the radar.

The new sanctions also targeted several "opaque traders" involved in Russia's oil business, as well as oilfield service providers and prominent executives at Russian energy companies, the statement added.

"The United States is taking sweeping action against Russia's key source of revenue for funding its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. "With today's actions, we are ratcheting up the sanctions risk associated with Russia's oil trade, including shipping and financial facilitation in support of Russia's oil exports," she later added.

Western nations have targeted Russia's energy trade since the early days of the Ukraine war, given that Russia's energy revenue makes up a big chunk of the nation's war budget. Oil and gas revenue is expected to account for around 27% of Russia's federal revenue in 2025, according to a draft budget viewed by Reuters in September.

Consequences from existing measures, like the ban and $60 price cap on Russian oil, have already started to hit Moscow's cash flow. Russia's total energy revenue plummeted by nearly a quarter in 2023, according to data from Russia's finance ministry.

The nation's oil and gas revenue is also expected to decline through 2027, the draft budget showed.

Economists share a grim outlook for Russia's economy, with some experts expecting the nation to soon undergo a stagnation that could mirror the decline of the Soviet Union. The nation is now likely feeling the full impact of international sanctions, which could produce enough strain to bring an end to the war this year, according to one Washington, D.C.-based think-tank.

Three Russian citizens were charged with money laundering for their role in operating Blender.io and Sinbad.io crypto mixing services.

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The House passed legislation sanctioning the International Criminal Court on Thursday in protest of its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

In one of the new Congress' first acts, the bill passed 243-140, with 45 Democrats joining Republicans in support of it. 

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has promised a swift vote to have it on President-elect Donald Trump’s desk by the time he takes office. 

Libertarian-minded Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has not been afraid to break with his colleagues on Israel-related bills, questioned why the legislation was a week-one priority for the new congressional term. Massie was the only Republican "present" vote - none opposed the legislation. 

SENATE DEMS TO JOIN REPUBLICANS TO ADVANCE ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BILL NAMED AFTER LAKEN RILEY

"The United States is a sovereign country, so I don’t assign any credibility to decisions of the International Criminal Court. But how did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the Speaker vote? Where are our priorities?!" he wrote on X last week. 

The legislation was reintroduced by Texas Reps. Chip Roy, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast, both Republicans. 

On May 20, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif. All three Hamas leaders were killed in the past year. 

Netanyahu fired Gallant shortly after the U.S. presidential election. 

TRUMP REINFORCES 'ALL HELL WILL BREAK OUT' IF HOSTAGES NOT RETURNED BY INAUGURATION

Khan’s application was unprecedented – the first time the criminal court had sought arrests for Western-allied officials. 

The judges on the ICC panel in November granted the warrants, finding that Netanyahu and Gallant had "committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, as a direct perpetrator, acting jointly with others. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that they are each responsible for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians as a superior." 

"The ICC is an illegitimate body that has no business interfering with our sovereignty or that of our allies," said Roy. 

LINDSEY GRAHAM DEMANDS ICC REVEAL DETAILS OF PROBE INTO PROSECUTOR KHAN'S MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

"The ICC’s attempt to obstruct Israel’s right to defend itself has only prolonged the war and prevented the release of American hostages by boosting Hamas’ morale," Mast said in a statement. 

Israel has carried out a vicious campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza since Hamas' bloody attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Trump has warned both sides to wrap up the conflict, and Hamas to return the hostages by the time he takes office on Jan. 20. 

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act would sanction any foreigner working to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute U.S. citizens or those of an allied country. 

It spans the 32-member NATO security alliance and 19 major non-NATO countries, including Israel. 

It would also claw back any funds the U.S. has designated for the ICC and prohibit any future money from going to the court. 

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. When the legislation passed the House last during the Congress, then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not take it up for a vote in the upper chamber. With Republicans in charge, Thune is intent on passing the legislation and getting it to the president’s desk by the time he is inaugurated. 

• Transnistria is facing heating cuts after a halt in piped Russian natural gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.
• The gas halt follows Ukraine's decision to not renew a gas transit contract with Russia.
• EU countries, like Slovakia, still rely on Russian gas, highlighting geopolitical risks.

A European region is grappling with freezing temperatures in winter after Russian natural gas stopped flowing to Europe via Ukraine.

On Monday, local energy company Tirasteploenergo warned residents in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, that heating and hot water services would be cut from 7 a.m. on Wednesday — the first day of 2025.

Hospitals and critical infrastructure still received heating, but the situation is precarious for Transnistria's population, which numbered about 475,000 at its last census in 2015.

Tirasteploenergo advised residents to take basic measures to keep warm, as temperatures could dip to 23 degrees Fahrenheit in the capital city of Tiraspol in the coming days.

"To keep the room warm, seal the cracks in the windows and balcony doors, hang blankets or thick curtains over them. Place all family members in one room, temporarily closing the rest of the rooms," the company told customers.

Tirasteploenergo also advised consumers to use electric heaters but to limit energy use.

"Dress warmly and take preventive medications for acute respiratory infections and flu," it added.

A company employee told Reuters on Wednesday that she did not know how long the situation would persist.

Tirasteploenergo did not respond immediately to a Business Insider request for comment outside regular business hours.

The halt in services came following the termination of a five-year Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine after Kyiv refused to renew the deal over the war in Ukraine. The pipeline's shutdown marked the end of an era for Russia's oldest gas route to Europe.

The cessation of gas supplies would hit Transnistria particularly hard since the region has been getting gas free of charge from Russian state-owned giant Gazprom.

Transnistria declared a 30-day economic emergency last month ahead of the impending energy crisis.

Moldova has also declared a 60-day state of emergency as the landlocked country still gets much of its gas from Transnistria.

'A historic event'

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko hailed the halt of Russian gas to Europe as a "historic event."

"Russia is losing its markets and will suffer financial losses," Galushchenko said in a Wednesday statement.

The developments illustrate the region's geopolitical and economic entanglements with Russia, an energy giant.

Many European Union countries have weaned themselves off Russian piped gas, which used to account for nearly 40% of the bloc's supply, but some — like Slovakia and the Czech Republic — are still reliant on Russian gas.

The EU as a whole also still imports seaborne Russian liquefied natural gas.

The Czech Republic — a landlocked country that cut Russian piped gas imports in the summer of 2023 — imported more of the fuel in 2024 because it was cheaper than LNG, Bloomberg reported in November.

Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico appealed to the EU to find a way to keep Russian gas flowing via Ukraine. Slovakia made as much as 500 million euros, or $518 million, a year in Russian gas transit fees and would pay about 90 million euros more a year for alternative gas sources.

"Halting gas transit via Ukraine will have a drastic impact on us all in the EU — but not on the Russian Federation," Fico said in his New Year's address.

New sanctions on Russia's energy sector could temporarily raise gas prices and shift oil export patterns, according to experts who analyzed the global impact of penalties previously placed against the country's fossil fuels. 

President Joe Biden is reportedly considering imposing new sanctions on Russian energy before he leaves office, the Washington Post reported, citing four people familiar with the matter. Sources suggested that such a move could give President-elect Donald Trump more leverage in potential negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

If Biden proceeds with the sanction, analysis of U.S. sanctions against Russia at the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine indicate energy sanctions can result in higher gas prices globally.

The price of natural gas began to rise amid tensions in Russia in 2022 but reached a record high in the U.S. after the country invaded and sparked a yearslong war with its neighboring country, Ukraine. 

PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA READY TO COMPROMISE WITH TRUMP ON UKRAINE WAR

"Western sanctions on the Russian energy sector have reduced Russian revenues, but have also created costs for the sanctioning nations," the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis wrote in a review of the impact of energy sanctions on Russia.

Biden and Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy after the country invaded Ukraine, resulting in rising diesel prices worldwide because there "simply weren’t enough refineries to meet diesel demand, especially after the U.S. and other countries stopped purchasing energy exports from Russia," according to an analysis from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

US SLAPS SANCTIONS ON COMPANIES TIED TO NORD STREAM 2 IN BID TO SQUEEZE RUSSIA

According to FRED, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for diesel in June 2022 was approximately 109% higher than in June 2021. However, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that prices have decreased considerably since.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a public policy think tank, says that sanctions can have varying effects, such as a "significant shift in oil export patterns, rerouting trade flows in an economically inefficient manner and forcing sanctioned countries such as Iran, Russia, and Venezuela to sell crude at below-market prices."

While the move could increase oil costs, one advocate of the idea suggested that the election being over could be a reason for Biden to move forward with the penalty.

"The Biden administration has been worried about increasing gas prices and worsening inflation. That was the main constraint on their Russia sanctions policy, the domestic ramifications," said Edward Fishman, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, the Washington Post reported. "But the election is over, and inflation is under control. The reasons to be this cautious on sanctions don’t apply anymore."

The report comes just days after the U.S. issued fresh sanctions against several Russian-linked entities and individuals involved in the building of Nord Stream 2, the massive undersea gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany.

Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

• Two Russian vessels were damaged during a heavy storm on Sunday, causing a massive oil spill.
• The tankers, both over 50 years old, carried nearly 9,000 metric tons of oil products.
• On Monday, the EU sanctioned 52 dark fleet ships.

A massive oil spill involving two Russian tankers is underscoring the dangers of the dark fleet of ships that's been boosting President Vladimir Putin's war chest.

On Sunday, the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 vessels were damaged during a heavy storm, discharging 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil into the Kerch Strait between the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and Russia.

Both ships are over 50 years old and were carrying nearly 9,000 metric tons of oil products in total, reported TASS state news agency.

One crewmember died, and 12 were rescued from the Volgoneft 212, which split in half. All 14 crew aboard the Volgoneft 239 were rescued.

Greenpeace Ukraine has warned of an "environmental catastrophe" in the Kerch Strait.

While the extent of damage depends on the product involved, the region already experienced "severe damage to the environment" in 2007 when 1,200 to 1,600 tons of oil was spilled," Greenpeace said.

Aging ships are transporting Russian energy

The problem is more than environmental.

The G7 imposed an oil price cap on Russian oil in December 2022, prompting Russia to grow its shadow network of mostly aging ships.

Using that shadow fleet of ships has helped Russia circumvent Western restrictions and allowed it to continue trading its oil at market prices, according to the European Union.

However, because many of those ships are old, they are also more prone to accidents. Should the ships not have adequate insurance, the burden of clean-up and salvage costs could fall on coastal countries.

Last month, 206 out of the 369 vessels that exported Russian crude oil and oil products were shadow tankers, according to the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a think-tank.

About 30% of the shadow tankers carrying Russian oil were at least 20 years old, according to CREA. Major Western oil companies generally do not use ships above 15 years old.

Europe to step up checks on tanker insurance

The European Union is already cracking down on Russia's dark fleet.

On Monday, the EU sanctioned 52 dark fleet ships. That's in addition to the 27 ships it had previously sanctioned. These vessels will not be able to access EU ports and services.

"These ships have been found to be engaged in high-risk shipping practices when transporting Russian oil or petroleum products, in arms deliveries, grain theft, or supporting the Russian energy sector," the European Commission said in its announcement.

A group of European countries — including Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Sweden — is also planning to increase checks on the insurance coverage of tankers carrying Russian oil, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Bloomberg's sources said they expect no consequences for ships that are short on their coverage in the immediate term, although the information collected could help with the crafting of such measures in the future.

• China is studying the effects of Western sanctions on Russia to prepare for any invasion of Taiwan.
• Its officials have visited Russian agencies combating sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• It also set up an interagency group to provide reports on how to reduce the impact of sanctions.

China is closely monitoring the effects of Western sanctions on Russia in order to prepare for a possible invasion of Taiwan, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Unnamed individuals told the outlet that China formed an interagency group in the months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its aim was to provide regular reports on how to reduce the impact of sanctions should the US and its allies impose similar measures on China in the event of an armed conflict over Taiwan.

They also said that Chinese officials regularly travel to Moscow to meet with Russia's central bank, finance ministry, and other institutions involved in combating sanctions.

One unnamed person familiar with China's outreach on sanctions said that Beijing is "very interested in practically everything: from ways of circumventing them to all sorts of positive effects, such as incentives for the development of domestic production."

Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told the Journal that Russia is serving as a "sandbox" for China for how sanctions operate and how they should handle them.

"They know that if there is a Taiwan contingency, the tool kit that will be applied against them will be similar," he said.

The US and its allies have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia since the start of the war.

Russia has managed to mitigate some of the effects by turning to intermediaries, bartering, and trading with non-sanctioning countries, including China, India, and Turkey.

Even so, Russia's economy has been heavily impacted by the ongoing conflict and the Western sanctions imposed on it.

Russia's central bank hiked its key interest rate to a record high of 21% in October to combat inflation, and last month the ruble dropped to a two-year low against the dollar.

Russian companies and defense firms have recently said they've scaled back their operations and struggled to turn a profit due to high interest rates and sanctions.

Alexander Libman, a professor of Russian and East European politics at the Free University of Berlin, told BI that it doesn't surprise him that China is trying to learn from Russia's experience.

"China has always tried to understand how it can avoid Russia's mistakes, at least since the collapse of the USSR, which was very carefully studied in Beijing," he said.

Libman added that China has probably already learned that its economy can adapt to "nuclear" Western sanctions through trading with other countries, adapting production facilities to quick and unpredictable changes of supply lines, and living without access to Western technology.

"Essentially, the experience of the last three years substantially reduced the fear of large authoritarian states with respect to Western sanctions, and this is very concerning," he said, adding that China-Russia economic cooperation would make any future Western sanctions against China less effective.

People close to China's decision-making process told the Journal that the existence of the research group does not suggest the country is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan, but rather for the "extreme scenario" of an armed conflict and its economic consequences.

However, some military analysts and defense officials have predicted that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could happen within the next few years.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said the ruble's plunge to two-year lows was no cause for panic.
• The Russian currency hit its lowest level against the dollar since March 2022 this week.
• Analysts say Russia is under pressure from inflation, military spending, and falling oil prices.

Russians shouldn't stress about the ruble tumbling to two-year lows, Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Analysts told Business Insider there was plenty of cause for concern.

The Russian leader told reporters that the "situation is under control" and that "there are absolutely no grounds for panic," according to a Google translation of a report from the RIA Novosti news agency.

Putin attributed the ruble's fluctuations "not only to inflation but also to budget payments and oil prices," along with many seasonal factors.

The Russian currency traded at 114 to the dollar on Wednesday, its weakest level since March 2022, shortly after the Ukraine invasion began. It was about 84 in early August, meaning the currency has depreciated by 36% in under four months. A greenback was worth about 108 rubles on Friday.

Russia's central bank stepped in to shore up the floundering ruble on Wednesday. It suspended purchases of foreign currency on the domestic market for the rest of this year to reduce volatility.

A Wednesday headline in the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta read, "Panic attack for Russia's currency market." The Kommersant newspaper warned readers to "buckle up your rubles."

The ruble's latest plunge follows the US sanctioning Gazprombank, one of Russia's largest lenders. The restrictions limit the bank's ability to access global financial markets and handle energy payments.

Russia also fired a hypersonic missile into Ukraine last week after its opponent launched missiles at targets inside Russia for the first time. The escalation has raised concerns of further economic disruption.

A weakening ruble benefits Russian exporters by making their goods more competitive in global markets. But it threatens to accelerate inflation by raising the cost of imports, leaving sellers little choice but to increase their prices. Stubborn inflation has already spurred Russia's central bank to raise the main interest rate to 21%, the highest level since 2003.

The Russian economy has suffered from Western sanctions imposed since Putin's invasion of Ukraine, with energy revenue tanking by almost a quarter last year. Other countries, such as India, have snapped up Russian oil instead, tempering the impact of price caps and other penalties.

Mounting pressure on Russia

Robin Brooks, a senior fellow focused on the global economy and development at the Brookings Institution, posted on X that the ruble's collapse shows how vulnerable Russia is to sanctions.

He also said the European Union's reluctance to impose certain penalties might have staved off economic disaster in Russia.

George Pavel at the trading platform Naga.com told BI the ruble's dive had been driven by rising inflation and a widening budget deficit fueled by heavy military spending.

"Russia's economic path looks unsustainable barring major changes," he said, ticking off concerns such as slowing growth, stubborn inflation, a tight labor market, and the massive cost of the Ukraine war.

Brent crude is trading at just over $70 a barrel, and sliding oil prices pose an existential threat to Russia, said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"Russian income is shrinking at the same time as defense spending is surging as the war with Ukraine enters a more intense phase," Brooks said. "While President Trump may go some way to ending the Russia-Ukraine war, his policy on energy and plans to get the US pumping even more oil could weigh on the oil price further in 2025, which is bad news for Russia."

• The US is planning new curbs on chip exports to slow China's AI development, multiple reports say.
• It could blacklist 200 Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers, Wired reported.
• Targeting Chinese chip equipment makers could benefit European firms such as ASML.

The Biden administration is reported to be considering fresh sanctions against Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers, pushing up stocks of semiconductor suppliers in Europe and Japan.

Bloomberg reported that while the newly proposed sanctions still targeted Chinese chip fabrication plants, they put greater emphasis on targeting domestic firms supplying manufacturing equipment to chipmakers. The suggested curbs would add an extra 100 Chinese chip equipment makers to the entity list, the outlet reported.

That pushed the share price of ASML — the Dutch firm supplying crucial specialized equipment to chip manufacturers, including China's SMIC — up by more than 4.27% Thursday.

Tokyo Electron, which also sells equipment for manufacturing chips, saw its share price climb by more than 6% on Thursday.

The restrictions, expected as soon as next week, could also add chipmakers to the sanctions list, including key suppliers to the Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, Bloomberg and Wired reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The new proposals would affect fewer Huawei suppliers, the reports added.

As part of the sweeping sanctions, the US could add 200 Chinese chip firms to its trade blacklist, Wired reported. The controls could also include restrictions around trading memory chips, which are crucial for the development of AI models.

'Malicious attempts to block and suppress China'

Chinese stocks were down on Thursday. Hang Seng's stock slid by more than 1%, and the CSI and the Shanghai Composite are also down by 0.57% and 0.10%, respectively.

"This decline is occurring as the Biden administration is considering imposing additional restrictions on the sale of crucial semiconductors to China, possibly as early as next week," Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank's global head of economics and thematic research, said in a research note.

The Biden administration has worked to limit China's progress in the semiconductor industry in recent years by rolling out export controls aimed at cutting off its access to buying advanced AI chips and chip-making equipment.

American chip equipment makers and allies such as Japan and the Netherlands reportedly pushed back against earlier proposals.

Under the new rules, companies and even foreign firms that used American parts or software in designing and manufacturing AI chips will be required to obtain licenses to export to China.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said at a press conference this week, "China is firmly opposed to the US overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export control measures, and making malicious attempts to block and suppress China."

The US Department of Commerce didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• Russia has sent North Korea 1 million barrels of oil since March, according to satellite imagery analysis.
• The findings underscore the growing partnership between the countries, which includes military aid.
• The oil shipments are in defiance of UN sanctions, which Russia has ignored in the past.

An analysis of satellite images shows Russia defying sanctions to supply North Korea with at least one million barrels of oil this year, according to a new report.

The findings underscore the increasing partnership between the two states, and the extent to which Russia is willing to flout international norms to pursue its war in Ukraine.

The investigation, published jointly by the BBC and analysts at the UK-based Open Source Centre, used aerial and satellite images to track tanker shipping routes between Russia's port of Vostochny, in the country's far east, and five separate North Korean ports and oil terminals.

In the imagery, vessels would set out from North Korea riding high in the water, but on their return would appear fully laden, the group said.

The oil is payment for weapons and troops sent to aid Russia's war in Ukraine, the UK's foreign secretary, David Lammy, told the BBC.

Open Source Centre used the imagery to estimate that between March and November this year, Russia provided North Korea with at least a million barrels of oil — double the amount that North Korea is allowed to import under UN sanctions.

The UN Security Council — of which Russia is a permanent member — sanctioned North Korea in December 2017, forbidding the transfer of more than 500,000 barrels of oil a year to the state.

In March this year, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to extend the mandate of the expert panel tasked with monitoring the sanctions, effectively disbanding it.

The Open Source Centre and BBC investigation, which Business Insider has not independently confirmed, appears to back up assertions made by a US official in May.

The unnamed official told Reuters that in March alone, more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum had left Vostochny headed for North Korea, and that "Russian shipments have already pushed DPRK imports above the 500,000-barrel annual cap."

The new findings also give further insight into the continued material exchanges between Russia and North Korea.

Analysts have warned for months about the growing partnership between the two countries.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who signed a mutual defense agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, has supplied vast amounts of ammunition and — it is believed — artillery to Russia to help in its invasion of Ukraine.

Around 11,000 North Korean troops have also been sent to fight, according to Ukraine, with reports suggesting that as many as 100,000 could be deployed within a year.

The two states have not made clear what the terms of the exchange are, but South Korean intelligence has estimated that it could be receiving about $2,000 per soldier a month, as well as food and access to advanced technology.

Earlier this year, a Carnegie Endowment analysis said the partnership was taking shape against the backdrop of the "slow and irreversible breakdown of the Kim dynasty."

But the oil transfers give North Korea "a level of stability it hasn't had since these sanctions were introduced," Joseph Byrne, one of the authors of the Open Source Centre report, told the BBC.

Analysts have previously told BI that the relationship between the two states is largely transactional, but that for Kim it's a "win-win" as he gains access to much-needed resources.

Kim is "getting paid, getting access to foreign technology," Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a North Korea defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told BI last month.