Western countries have the opportunity to mitigate the punishment against Russia, if Moscow will contribute to the achievement of peace in the Donbass, said the representative of the state Department of Ukraine with Kurt Volker during a speech at the Center for the national interest.

according to his statement, it may be only a slight easing of restrictive measures, but even that can be a valuable factor in relations of the Russian capital and the capital of the United States because they will demonstrate their ability to negotiate.

However, Walker complained about the lack of progress towards peace in the South-East of Ukraine, for example, due to differences of the positions of the parties in the introduction of UN peacekeeping forces in the Donbass. Kiev insists on the introduction of Donbass peacekeepers. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he supports the idea of sending UN troops to Ukraine, but we can talk only about the function of ensuring the safety of employees of the OSCE. However, the Ukrainian authorities believe that the mission should have a broader mandate and be placed on the entire territory of Donbas up to the border with Russia.

Western countries have introduced anti-Russian punishment in 2014 against the background of the Ukrainian conflict and the annexation of Crimea into Russia after a referendum. More than 95% of the residents voted for Crimea to become a Russian region.

sections: Politics