Russia is estimated to have supplied North Korea with more than a million barrels of oil since March 2024, violating UN sanctions against selling oil to North Korea. The findings are based on satellite imagery analysis from the Open Source Centre, a non-profit research group based in the U.K., reports BBC News.

Russia is paying North Korea in oil for the weapons and troops the rogue nation has sent Moscow to help it wage war against Ukraine, according to experts and the U.K. Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, says the BBC.

UN sanctions ban countries from selling oil to North Korea, except in small quantities, in an attempt to repress its economy to prevent it from further developing nuclear weapons.The satellite images, shared exclusively with the BBC, show more than a dozen different North Korean oil tankers arriving at an oil terminal in Russia’s Far East a total of 43 times over the past eight months. Further pictures, taken of the ships at sea, appear to show the tankers arriving empty, and leaving almost full.

North Korea is the only country in the world not allowed to buy oil on the open market. The number of barrels of refined petroleum it can receive is capped by the United Nations at 500,000 annually, well below the amount it needs.

Russia’s foreign ministry did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.