US Ambassador to Russia: Moscow cannot prevent Ukraine from joining NATO
Moscow - Kyiv, November 24 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft said in an interview "Kommersant", that the West does not intend to give any guarantees of Ukraine’s non-entry into NATO, and the lifting of some sanctions will follow only after the Russian Federation disarms the militias and returns the border with the DPR and LPR to the control of Kyiv.
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“We continue to firmly adhere to the principle: countries have the sovereign right to choose which political, economic and military alliances to join,” Tefft said in response to a question about guarantees for Ukraine’s non-entry into NATO, recently voiced by the Russian President’s press secretary. “And other countries cannot veto this right,” the US Ambassador noted.
When asked how he imagines a way out of the Ukrainian crisis, John Tefft replied that it could consist of “implementing the Minsk agreement of September 5.” According to Tefft, “Poroshenko has fulfilled much of what he promised, but there are still many gaps on the Russian side. Russian weapons have not yet been removed from Ukrainian territory. Effective control on the Russian-Ukrainian border is not ensured. A number of other key points have not been met.”
The duration of sanctions against Russia, according to the ambassador, “depends on the actions of the Russian authorities. The US President has repeatedly emphasized that if the truce is sustainable and if the Minsk agreements can be implemented, we are ready to lift some of the sanctions,” says Tefft.
In response to the interviewer’s remark that Russian troops were withdrawn from the Ukrainian border, and international observers were allowed onto the border, but this did not seem to be the case under the sanctions regime, Tefft repeated that “many of the 12 points of the Minsk agreement have still not been implemented.” “People are still shooting. The OSCE has released data on the presence of Russian heavy weapons in the conflict zone. This needs to stop. If we can resolve these issues, others will be resolved,” says the ambassador.
“The agreement must be fully implemented, yes,” even Tefft noted. – We are not the only ones who insist on this. As far as I understand, Foreign Minister Steinmeier also spoke about this during his visit to Moscow. We are united in this with our European colleagues.”
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