The United States has blacklisted a network accused of aiding financial payments between Russia and North Korea, two isolated countries that have grown financially and militarily closer amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on a network of five groups and one person, based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, for enabling payments between Russia and North Korea, the Treasury Department said.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed expanding bilateral relations. Choe traveled to Russia earlier this week, according to the Russian embassy in North Korea,