US State Department demands that Russia withdraw troops from Ukraine
Russia continues to violate the Minsk agreements on the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine, the US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Wednesday.
“The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) conflict monitors spotted four new Russian electronic warfare systems in eastern Ukraine. More evidence Russia’s military is orchestrating the conflict in the Donbas,” Nauert wrote in Twitter.
Russia must fully implement the Minsk agreements that require it to transfer control over the Donbas region to Ukraine and pull its forces out of Ukraine,” Nauert added.
At the moment, Russia does not have any plans for new negotiations on the future of the southeast of Ukraine in the Normandy format with the mediation of France and the Federal Republic of Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had announced earlier.
According to him, the obstacle is that Kyiv refuses to pass a law on the special status of the Donbas. The dilution of forces agreed upon by the Norman Quartet took place in only two settlements out of three. “In 2015 in Paris and later in 2016 in Berlin, a very specific agreement was reached during these summits. The leaders marked three settlements on the map where dilution of forces was to take place,” RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov. Russian troops are illegally based not only in Ukraine but also in Georgia, US State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo said on May 22.
“The United States unequivocally condemns Russia’s occupation on Georgian soil. Russia’s forcible invasion of Georgia is a clear violation of international peace and security,” he said.
Pompeo added that the US intends to expand assistance to Georgia in the sphere of security and economy, as well as support Georgia’s aspiration to join NATO.