“We are confident that these new sanctions underscore American efforts to maintain additional pressure on Russian Federation for brutal violation of global law by the aggression against Ukraine, illegal occupation of Ukrainian Crimea, and continuing support of pro-Russian terroristic forces in Donbass region of Ukraine”, it said.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande confirmed in a joint statement Thursday their endorsement of a general ceasefire deal brokered by the trilateral contact group of Germany, France, and Poland.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has reiterated that Russian Federation should be returned to the G8 group of states, but it depends on the country’s role in settling conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking at a meeting of OSCE ministers in Potsdam, sounded a more positive note, saying the latest ceasefire deal had sharply reduced military activities.
The department said in a release that its Office of Foreign Assets Control had updated its sanctions lists targeting individuals and entities that have played a role in the Ukraine conflict.
Leaders from the Group of Seven States – Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – brought Russian Federation into their exclusive club in 1998. Its aim was to end a conflict that the United Nations rights office said on Wednesday had killed more than 9,550 people, including soldiers, civilians and members of armed groups, since April 2014.
“We have to work with all our might to move forward on the Minsk agreement, even if we only inch forward bit by bit”.
Merkel and Hollande added that they are “extremely concerned” regarding the situation in Eastern Ukraine.
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Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists started the new attempt at a comprehensive ceasefire after the country’s embattled eastern regions recently saw some of the worst violence in months.
