The U.S. Secretary of State also stated the obstacles for “Russia and its supported forces” to “move OSCE observers and humanitarian organizations in eastern Ukraine”.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Washington supports Kiev and that the US administration is ready to “create costs” for Russia. This was stated in a statement issued by the State Department’s press service on Thursday.
“The United States will continue to create costs for Russia, including through sanctions”, – until the Minsk agreements begin to be implemented, and the Crimea will remain part of the Russian Federation, the report says.
In addition, Pompeo, the document says, stated about the obstacles “to the movement of OSCE observers and representatives of humanitarian organizations in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, the U.S. secretary of state made a statement as if the new coronavirus pandemic was used for this purpose.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the demands for the staff of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine from Donetsk and Lugansk because of the coronavirus do not mean that access to the Donbas is forbidden. According to the Russian minister, the measures introduced by Donetsk and Lugansk for representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine include the need to pass a simple test to show that an employee of the mission “in good health” crosses the border line, as well as to maintain a short quarantine after crossing it. According to Lavrov, the charges against Donetsk and Lugansk because of the measures they imposed are an unacceptable politicization of the fight against the pandemic.