Contents tagged with Volker

  • Volker: Russia has been violating the Minsk Agreements every day for the last four years

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker stated on Twitter that Russia has long been violating the Minsk Agreements without cease.

    "Four years ago, Russia signed the Minsk Package of Measures with the first point being a February 14 ceasefire. About a week later Russia and its proxy forces seized Debaltseve,” Volker said. "In the four years since, Russia has continued to violate the Minsk Agreements every day.”

    On February 12, 2015, because of negotiations in Minsk, participants of …

  • Volker: US and EU considering new sanctions on Russia for capturing Ukrainian sailors

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker believes that Russia is holding the Ukrainian sailors in order to put political pressure on the Ukrainian government ahead of its presidential elections. Volker considers it possible that additional sanctions will be imposed on Russia for this.

    “Russia continues illegally to hold these Ukrainian sailors and illegally is charging them with crimes under a civilian code, seeking to illegally enter Russian territory, which is not the case. So …

  • Volker: Russia needs a pretext for aggression in Ukraine 

    Russia needs a pretext for aggression in Ukraine, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told TSN.Tyzhden in an interview. 

    According to Volker, the US used to think it was unlikely that Russia was set on aggression in Ukraine, but in the wake of the Kerch Strait incident, it will be necessary to reconsider the realistic probability that there may be new aggression from Russia. 

    “We must do everything we can to stop it from coming to this. We must do everything to prevent this …

  • Volker: US will send more weapons to Ukraine

    In the next few months, the US intends to send Ukraine a new batch of weapons, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker announced at a press conference.

    According to him, the US has the opportunity to sell Ukraine additional weapons.

    “Announcements will be made, and Congress will be notified about the first tranches in the next few months,” Volker noted.

    He added that Washington will negotiate weapons shipments with Ukraine for as long as they are needed.

    The special representative …

  • Volker: Russian ships may be banned access to European ports

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker demands that Russia release the Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait at the end of November before Christmas or New Year.

    During an interview with the Voice of America,  Volker explained that the US and its western allies are considering a number of ways to prevent new instances of Russia’s “unilateral control” of the shared waters of the Sea of Azov.

    “We do not accept or agree to the annexation of Crimea claimed by Russia,” he said, …

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker calls for additional pressure on Russia

    In light of the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the US calls on Europeans to make sure that the existing sanctions are being implemented. A statement to this effect was made by US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

    “Europe must take a careful look at the implementation of the sanctions already in force. At present there are severe European sanctions in force against Crimea. But how strictly are they actually being applied?” …

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker: Russia wants to control access to Mariupol

    The developments in the Sea of Azov this past weekend show that Russia intends to take sole control over access to Ukrainian ports, said Kurt Volker, the US State Department’s Special Representative for Ukraine, as reported by Ukrinform.

    “I think that this is a matter of access to Mariupol for Ukrainians. Russia is claiming the unilateral right to control this access, that’s the problem. This definitely doesn’t mean that Russia is going to undertake a new offensive on land,” the American …

  • Volker: New US sanctions acknowledge Russia’s control over Donbas

    The financial sanctions on Russia which the US Treasury Department announced on November 8 are the first to officially recognize that Russia has complete control over the situation in the Donbas, said Kurt Volker, The US State Department’s Special Representative for Ukraine, Voice of America reports.

    For the first time, the sanctions are also being placed on private entities who are “facilitating the integration of Crimea” through their financial investments, as well as persons complicit in …

  • Volker: Russia will not go on the offensive in the Donbas

    During his speech at the Atlantic Council center in Washington, the US Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker asserted that Russia would not go on the offensive in the East of Ukraine .

    The American official explained that one of the reasons that it would not be profitable for Russia to aggravate the situation is a high probability that a new spiral of tension in the east of Ukraine could foster the growth of support for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

    "[An offensive] would …

  • Russia refuses to call off Donbas ‘elections’

    Russia has refused to call off the elections scheduled for November 11 in the occupied territories of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, said Oleksandr Motsyk, Ukraine’s representative to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG).

    According to the Ukrainian official, the likelihood that “elections” will be held in the DPR and LPR is at 99%.

    “We could not persuade Russia to call off the “elections” it wants to hold in the occupied Donbas territories on November 11… We see that Russia is going …