Russia summoned Lee Do-hoon, the ROK Ambassador to Russia, on Friday to protest Seoul’s unilateral sanctions against Russian entities and individuals. South Korea imposed sanctions on two Russian vessels allegedly involved in transporting military supplies to North Korea, two Russian institutions accused of facilitating the dispatch of North Korean workers abroad and two Russian individuals on April 2.

Andrey Rudenko, the Russian deputy foreign minister in charge of the Asia-Pacific region, denounced the sanctions as an “unfriendly measure” and urged South Korea to abandon what he described as “unproductive and coercive measures that escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.” A South Korean foreign ministry official told journalists that the sanctions are “legitimate and justifiable measures based on U.N. Security Council resolutions and principles of international law.”