Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed that there will be no easing of sanctions on Russia or warming of relations until Moscow stops supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine and abandons the “apparent annexation” of Crimea. “And we’ve made this clear to Russia from the very beginning, that we must address Ukraine,” he said. U.S. officials had hoped it would provide a venue to discuss modifications to a Russian proposal for a U.N. peacekeeping force in eastern Ukraine. [Putin’s Ukraine proposal seen as another trap for Trump]In his own speech to the OSCE, Tillerson said civilian deaths and cease-fire violations have risen dramatically over the past year. Tillerson said the United States is focusing its diplomatic efforts on eastern Ukraine because that’s where civilians are dying.

Source: Washington Post December 07, 2017 16:41 UTC