US State Department: Sanctions against Russia will remain in force
Deputy Speaker of the US State Department Mark Toner said that the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia for its violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine will remain in effect until the return of the Crimea, Ukrinform reports.
“Our attitude has been and will remain – within the present administration – unchanged. As for the sanctions regarding the Crimea – they will stay in effect until Russia takes its troops out of the Crimea and returns the peninsula to Ukraine,” Toner said.
According to Toner, the State Department has not changed its attitude towards the Russian actions in eastern Ukraine, either.
“As for the other sanctions against Russia related to its actions in eastern Ukraine, they will be in force until a full realization of the Minsk agreements,” he stressed
Toner also added that some progress had been made in the implementation of the Minsk process in Ukraine.
“We continue to work and make progress in this direction, but it is the most clear way to lift sanctions from Russia,” the representative of the State Department specified.