Tillerson: Sanctions on Russia Won’t Be Lifted Until Crimea Is Returned to Ukraine

[Deleted]

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/american-san...ne-says-588849

The United States will not lift sanctions on Russia until President Vladimir Putin hands Crimea back to Ukraine, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said late Sunday.

During a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Tillerson said the sanctions—which have crippled Russia’s economy and pushed down the value of the ruble—will “ remain in place until Russia returns control of the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine.”

He also said that Moscow must honor the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that was outlined in the Minsk agreements, according to a State Department official.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s position on whether he will lift the sanctions on Russia has been unclear since his election last year. The U.S. imposed sanctions on a wide swath of Russian businesses and wealthy individuals following Russia’s annexation of the Crimean region by force in 2014.

During the 2016 election campaign Trump said that as president he would be looking at lifting the sanctions and consider whether to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia. But in February White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump was expecting Putin to hand Crimea back.

Trump has also voiced admiration for Putin’s leadership and called him “very smart!" on Twitter in late December. The Russian leader drew Trump’s praise after choosing not to respond to further sanctions imposed by Barack Obama after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election.

A back-channel plan to lift the sanctions formulated by Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and the president’s personal lawyer Michael D. Cohen also emerged in February. Even Tillerson has opposed sanctions, calling them imprecise and ineffective.

But the message from the State Department appeared clear Monday following the death of an American medic working with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE is monitoring the Minsk ceasefire and Sunday the armored patrol vehicle that the unidentified medic was driving hit a landmine in Russian-backed east Ukraine.

After a meeting with the EU’s foreign minister on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the starting point for any discussions will only come when both sides commit to the “full implementation of the Minsk” agreements. This ceasefire, brokered in 2014 and reaffirmed in 2015, has failed to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

In February, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that “Crimea is territory belonging to the Russian Federation” and that "we don't give back our own territory."

After visiting Russia on April 12 and meeting Putin and Lavrov, Tillerson said relations between the two countries are at a “low point.”

“We may be at an all-time low” in relations, Trump said at a news conference the same day, adding “we’ll see what happens.”

Very good. Let them bleed for this aggression.

[Puupi]

Hopefully he isn't all talk.

[Azadina]

So, never?

[Elim Garak]

Bullshitting Ukraine like there's no tomorrow.

US sanctions did not cripple Russian economy or currency.

[Nilinor]

So you don't mind if they stay in effect then? Good, because they ain't coming off.

I take what he said as meaning it needs to be actually useful if they ever plan for it to work. Its almost like saying to you "Well, unless you do X, I am going to keep preventing you from having access to visit the bottom of the Marianas trench"

Thats nice, but I doubt that affects you at all.

[NED funded]

Nice, the Russian government needs to be punished for its dictatorial tendencies of annexing sovereign territory.

[Kujako]

Another of Trumps campaign promises broken! <kidding>

[Cybran]

"Wtf I love Russia now" never-trumpkins

[Santti]

I foresee Crimea returning to Ukraine eventually. Probably by the time Russia implodes. Again.

[ohiostate124]

Obviously this is fake guys. Trump and Putin love each other remember?

[Kujako]

Obviously this is fake guys. Trump and Putin love each other remember?

So they're having a spat, you saying they may break up over this? Seems extreme, but the heart wants what it wants.

[stomination]

What shall we do if the Crimeans disagree?

There will be a refugee crisis.

[Santti]

What shall we do if the Crimeans disagree?

They don't really have a say in it, in my opinion.

Russians might make the majority of Crimean populace, but that is irrelevant. They cannot dictate which country they belong to by being the majority in that current location, anymore than a small town in Canada with majority being Finnish deciding they are now part of Finland.

They can move to Russia if they like it in there. Or have a proper vote that encompasses the whole of Ukraine, like it should have been in the first place. And also not overseen by the freaking Russians who are the ones benefiting from the ordeal.

[schwarzkopf]

Obviously this is fake guys. Trump and Putin love each other remember?

Hint - just because Joe buys a new Motorcycle, doesn't mean Joe got a decent motorcycle.

[Skroe]

Russia must be thrown out of Swift. Hit them where it hurts.

[Nilinor]

Are you really going to trust Russians when they say "The sanctions don't work lol! Why not just drop them lmaoooo"?

I didnt see Elim say that, I just read it as they aren't working. never said drop them, just actually make them DO something instead of nothing.

[Cybran]

They don't really have a say in it, in my opinion.

Russians might make the majority of Crimean populace, but that is irrelevant. They cannot dictate which country they belong to by being the majority in that current location, anymore than a small town in Canada with majority being Finnish deciding they are now part of Finland.

They can move to Russia if they like it in there. Or have a proper vote that encompasses the whole of Ukraine, like it should have been in the first place. And also not overseen by the freaking Russians who are the ones benefiting from the ordeal.

Crimea decided. The Tatar muslim minority should move.

[Belize]

Are you really going to trust Russians when they say "The sanctions don't work lol! Why not just drop them lmaoooo"?

What, they would never lie to us!

[Breccia]

This is pretty much the best news out of the current situation. Trump might be a Putin Puppet and/or surrounding himself with such, but the rest of the GOP sure isn't.

When there are drafts in Congress to prevent Trump from unilaterally lifting sanctions against Russia, this more than anything proves what the GOP actually believes about Trump and Russia.

I would expect to see more members of Trump's admin coming out against Russia, as the Trump-Russia investigations and Flynn situation unfolds, if for no other reason than "hey, it wasn't me".

[Skroe]

This is pretty much the best news out of the current situation. Trump might be a Putin Puppet and/or surrounding himself with such, but the rest of the GOP sure isn't.

When there are drafts in Congress to prevent Trump from unilaterally lifting sanctions against Russia, this more than anything proves what the GOP actually believes about Trump and Russia.

I would expect to see more members of Trump's admin coming out against Russia, as the Trump-Russia investigations and Flynn situation unfolds, if for no other reason than "hey, it wasn't me".

No man. We have to say only nice things about Russia and think only nice thoughts, or we'll have World War III over Syria.

That's the way Americans won the Cold War after all. By bending over for the Russian Adversary. /s