WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In 2014, the United States, the European Union and some of their allies imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over its alleged meddling in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Moscow, however, has repeatedly denied the allegations and called for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
“If the Minsk agreement can continue to be implemented as we are seeing it after the last meeting of the Normandy Group in Paris — the ceasefire is holding, a lot of the heavy weapons have been moved back, things are moving — then it could change the choices in respect to sanctions ultimately,” Kerry said Tuesday at the meeting with the Harvard University students.
He added that Washington was “not looking to hurt the Russian people,” but tried to “elicit a shift of choices with respect to the Ukraine” by maintaining the sanctions.
The Minsk agreements are a set of measures elaborated by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany in mid-February to facilitate the process of Ukrainian reconciliation.
On October 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris to discuss the Ukraine crisis and the implementation of the Minsk deals. Even though no new agreements were signed, the talks set a positive tone, according to Merkel.
