White House Says Russia Sanctions To Remain Until Ukraine Crisis Resolved
A spokeswoman for U.S. President Donald Trump says sanctions against Russia for its interference in Ukraine would remain in place until the crisis is resolved.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on June 8 said the United States "is committed to existing sanctions against Russia."
She added the administration will keep them in place "until Moscow fully honors its commitments to resolve the crisis in Ukraine."
"We believe that the existing executive-branch sanctions regime is the best tool for compelling Russia to fulfill its commitments," she added in an off-camera briefing with reporters.
The United States and other Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow in 2014 for its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
President Donald Trump has caused some concern among allies about his commitment to sanctions, praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and saying he wants to improve relations with Moscow.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
'We'll Put An End to Putin': Saakashvili Praises Chechen, Georgian Fighters In Ukraine
The former Georgian president and ex-governor of Odesa, Mikheil Saakashvili, has praised Chechen and Georgian fighters who are helping Ukrainian government forces battle Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service on June 7 in Vienna, Saakashvili said Chechens and Georgians who had joined the conflict were fighting for freedom and would "put an end to" Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime. (RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service)
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
Ukrainian parliament makes NATO integration priority:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- The Ukrainian parliament has defined cooperation with NATO, with the ultimate goal of joining the Western military alliance, as a top priority for the country in the face of Russian "aggression."
A total of 276 lawmakers in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada supported amendments to several laws governing foreign policy on June 8.
The amendments, which must be signed by President Petro Poroshenko to become law, say that Ukraine's foreign policy will be focused on steps to promote cooperation with NATO in order to "achieve the criteria needed to gain membership in this organization."
The document explaining the amendments says the move is a response to "the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine and annexation of a part of Ukraine's territory" -- references to Russia's armed takeover of Crimea in 2014 and its involvement in a conflict between Kyiv's forces and separatists that has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine.
"The experience of a number of countries neighboring Ukraine shows that they consider structures of collective security that function on the basis of progressive democratic values...to be the most effective way to ensure security and to secure territorial integrity and sovereignty," the document says.
After Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled by pro-European protests in 2014, Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine and fomented mutiny in eastern Ukraine, where the Russia-backed separatists hold parts of two provinces.
In 2010, Yanukovych signed legislation imposing neutral "non-bloc" status on Ukraine, meaning it could not join any military alliance. Poroshenko signed a law abolishing the neutral status in December 2014.