BRUSSELS – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reaffirmed America’s support for Ukraine while stating that Washington is ready to remove sanctions imposed on Russia once it fulfills commitments to ending the war in Donbas.
Stating he had a “productive meeting” with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin at the Dec. 1-2 NATO meeting of foreign ministers, Kerry said that if “Moscow wants relief from sanctions, it’s there for the getting…implement Minsk (cease-fire agreement) and this can be achieved.”
Kerry said the
“unsettled” war in Ukraine remains one of NATO’s principal challenges.
He urged
that Russia withdraw “heavy weapons” in eastern Ukraine, allow elections to be
carried out in the occupied territories and let international monitors do their
jobs, “remove all foreign fighters, release all hostages and give Ukraine (back)
control over (400 kilometers) of its border.”
Asked to comment on Russia’s past threats that it would take retaliatory measures for
Montenegro’s eventual NATO accession — the former Yugoslav republic received an invitation to join the alliance at the event — America’s top diplomat said that it “would
be great mistake to react adversely toward a country that has been working for
10 years” to join the defensive alliance.
“President
Barack Obama’s policy is not to view Europe, Russia, the Caucuses and the (central
Asian) Stans as a zero sum game. We’re not forcing anybody to make a choice. Nobody
should be forced to choose over the other. Russia should look 360 degrees
around,” Kerry said.
Speaking at
a separate briefing, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saw no “contradiction
between collective deterrence and defense and political dialogue” with Russia.
“It’s in
Russia’s interests not to confront NATO but to cooperate with NATO that is in a
position of strength,” the Norwegian NATO chief said on Dec. 2.
Turchynov: Russia preparing for large-scale
war
Meanwhile, Moscow is using Ukraine’s
Donbas and its entry in Syria’s civil war to test military technology and prepare
for a “serious, large-scale war,” Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine’s national
security and defense secretary, said on Dec. 1.
“Russia
is training, is amassing its military potential and is obviously preparing for
not-quite peacekeeping operations,” Turchynov said.
In applying this influence, Russia
is conducting a war that’s hybrid in form yet asymmetric in substance, which
deforms the system of global and regional security, as well as the current
system of international law, he said, cited by Kyiv-based Concorde Capital.
“It needs to be clearly realized
that the Russian regime is not planning to stop,” he said. “It is creating and
using ‘hot spots’ to tests new armaments, employ new tactical measures of
conducting military actions, accumulate military experience for its military
units as well as pressure countries that are non-compliant. Putin wants to
fulfill ‘geopolitical revanche’ by any means possible,” he said.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
