Sanctions Against Russia will Remain Until they Return the Seized Ukrainian Territories

The sanction regime for Russia will continue to operate "until the Russian invasion of Ukraine has ceased and the territorial integrity of this country is restored." This was stated by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a speech to the Atlantic Council, TASS reports, quoted by FOCUS News Agency.

At the same time, Tillerson noted that Washington should have a good working relationship with Moscow. "We maintain a very active dialogue with our Russian counterparts, a very strong dialogue between the armed forces of both countries, a very strong diplomatic dialogue. We will continue to lead this dialogue, but, as we have already said to our Russian counterparts, we need some good news - we need it so that these relationships can contribute to something good. But nothing is happening right now. We wait, we wait, "said the first American diplomat.

The US should not focus on Moscow, but on the implementation of the Minsk agreements by Kiev. This is what Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Council of the Federation of Russia, quoted by RIA Novosti. "I would like to be optimistic and see the willingness of the US to" freeze "their claims to Russia in the Crimea and actually to start looking for ways to resolve the crisis in Southeastern Ukraine," said Kosachev. However, reasons for optimism were scarce due to Tillerson's ambiguous speeches and because of the lack of change in the US position on the Crimea, according to Kosachev.