US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine remain an obstacle to improved U.S.-Russian ties, the State Department said. This was reported by Press TV.
Secretary Tillerson phoned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss his recent trip to Moscow and his message to the Russian leadership that, although the United States is interested in improving relations with Russia, Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine remain an obstacle, according to the acting spokesman Mark Toner.
‘Tillerson reiterated Washington’s “firm commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and confirmed that sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine and fully implements its commitments in the Minsk agreements,” Toner said.
He said Tillerson also “emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s continued progress on reform and combating corruption.”
The phone call came as the two leaders discussed the death Sunday of an American monitor with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, who hit a landmine while on patrol in eastern Ukraine.
The statement said Tillerson accepted Poroshenko’s “condolences” for the death of the American.
Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian MFA stated that incident of blowing up the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission vehicle on the territory of Luhansk region, which is not controlled by the Ukrainian government, confirms the attempts of the Russian Federation and its puppets to intimidate the observers of the mission.
