Last weekend U.S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson , along with Kurt Volker, the special representative of the US state Department on negotiations with Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv, where he met with Petro Poroshenko. The latter regarded the visit as a manifestation of Washington for its strong support to Ukraine.
Tillerson do was to reassure the Ukrainian President, he said, called on Russia to take the first steps to reduce tensions in Eastern Ukraine and pledged that American and European sanctions on Russia still remain in force.
“In his repeated discussions with the Russian leadership I made it clear that Russia needs to take the first steps to de-escalate the situation in Eastern Ukraine, in particular, to respect the agreement on cease-fire, throwing heavy weapons and allowing the OSCE observers to carry out their duties,” said Rex Tillerson, speaking to the media with Poroshenko.
“We call on Russia to fulfill its commitments under the Minsk agreements and exert influence on the separatists in the region, which they completely control”, – he added.
Rex Tillerson also indicated that the United States sees as its main objective the “restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”. This condition is “necessary for the United States and Russia have improved our relationship.”
In turn, Poroshenko expressed his deep appreciation Tillerson for his «symbolic and timely visit immediately after the meeting at the summit of «Big twenty» in Hamburg».
In addition, the President of Ukraine told the press that Rex Tillerson assured him of the commitment of the United States the idea of the return of Crimea to Ukraine. He Tillerson word «Crimea» is not used but said the sanctions imposed by the US and EU will not be removed from Russia until, «while Moscow will not cancel the action that caused these specific sanctions.»
As for Volcker, from July 7, 2017 it is assigned to Tillerson to monitor the efforts of the US state Department for the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. From 2008 to 2009 he held the post of U.S. permanent representative to NATO.
“We need a Ukraine that is stable, resilient, prosperous and strong democracy, thus, it will be attractive to regions in the East and [is the place] where the misinformation and propaganda attacks do not have high thrust,” said Kurt Volker.
Now the diplomat will regularly participate in all negotiations concerning Ukraine, in the framework of the meeting «Norman Quartet» – Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany. It is known that earlier, Walker played for the granting Ukraine lethal weapons and its accession to NATO.
