Tillerson: No plan to lift sanctions on Russia
At an OSCE session in Vienna, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Washington will leave the Crimea-related sanctions in place until Russia gives Ukraine control of the peninsula, and the Donbas-related sanctions in place until Russia withdraws its forces and stops supporting the militants.
“The Crimea-related sanctions will remain in force until Russia returns full control of Crimea to Ukraine,” Interfax-Ukraine cites Tillerson as saying.
“In Eastern Ukraine, we join our European partners in maintaining sanctions until Russia withdraws its forces from the Donbas, and meets its Minsk commitments,” the US Secretary of State added.
The first US sanctions against Russia were introduced in March 2014 against individual Russian officials who were involved in the illegal annexation of Crimea. The persons on the sanction list were banned from entering the US, and their assets in the country were frozen. The US has subsequently augmented the sanction list on multiple occasions, including not only individuals, but entire sectors of the Russian economy.