It was a tiny news item in the back pages of the newpapers, and yet it marked an intriguing watershed in the fifteen-year campaign to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons. The government of Russian president Vladimir Putin announced that it was finally joining the UN sanctions imposed on North Korea last year following the Hermit Kingdom’s first nuclear test. From now on, according to the restrictions specified by Moscow, Russian ndividuals and companies are prohibited from selling military equipment of any kind to Pyongyang—nor will anyone involved in the North Koreans’ nuclear program be allowed to enter Russian territory.