Excerpts regarding Ukraine
In addition to Syria, Sergey mentioned a number of the other areas that we talked about, and one of those is we also talked about the difficult situation in Ukraine.
Let me make it clear: The United States remains firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that includes Crimea.
As President Obama reiterated in his recent call with President Putin, and as I underscored in our meeting today, our position is clear and we agree with Sergey Lavrov and Russia that the Minsk agreements must be fully implemented without delay.
We discussed how to get back to a real and comprehensive ceasefire and how to restore unfettered access for OSCE monitors and how to accelerate the process of a negotiated – of negotiating the election modalities for Donbas, which are all critical next steps in this journey.
I reinforced President Obama’s pledge to roll back sanctions when all of the provisions of Minsk are complete, including the withdrawal of all weapons and fighters and the return of Ukraine’s sovereign border.
Finally, I did raise the case of Nadiya Savchenko and her conviction and her sentencing with hopes that she will be allowed to return to Ukraine and as a matter of humanitarian interest that this case could be resolved immediately, as well as all others who are unlawfully detained.
