White House spokesman announced that additional anti-Russian sanctions may be imposed by Washington if Moscow fails to live up to the Minsk agreements.WASHINGTON, January 7 (Sputnik) Additional anti-Russian sanctions may be imposed byWashington if Moscow fails tolive upto the Minsk agreements, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The longer the Russians refuse toabide bythe commitments that they have already made, the more risk they face fromadditional sanctions, Earnest told reporters Tuesday.
However, the spokesman noted that he does not know of any impending plan toadd tothat sanctions regime right now.
Certainly the risk only increases aslong asRussia continues toessentially ignore the important commitments that they made totry tode-escalate the situation ineastern Ukraine, he continued.The White House spokesman described current US-Russia relations as complicated ones, butstressed that there is constructive cooperation betweenthe countries inthe space program andP5+1talks withIran.
We are going tocontinue tomake sure that we are making clear the concerns that we have withsome aspects ofRussias behaviour, while also trying towork withthem constructively toadvance our national security interests, Earnest concluded.
Relations betweenRussia and the United States have deteriorated followingCrimeas reunification withRussia inMarch 2014 and the escalation ofan armed conflict inUkraines south-east, where Kiev-led forces have been carrying outa military operation againstlocal independence supporters sinceApril.
The United States and a number ofits allies have introduced several rounds ofsanctions againstRussia overits alleged involvement inthe Ukrainian crisis. The restrictive measures target Russias defence, banking and energy sectors, aswell asa number ofindividuals.
Kiev and eastern Ukrainian militia agreed ona ceasefire deal duringtalks inMinsk inSeptember, brokered byRussia and the OSCE, buthave subsequently accused each other ofviolating the agreement.
By Sputnik News
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