Kerry urges Russia to pull out forces from Ukraine
US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused Russia of failing to fully abide by the Minsk peace agreement that was signed over the crisis in Ukraine and of deploying forces in eastern Ukraine.
The State Department said on Thursday that Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by telephone on Wednesday. Kerry urged Moscow to pull out forces from eastern Ukraine and press anti-Kiev fighters into observing the ceasefire.
The top US diplomat said the presence of Russian convoys and military equipment in eastern Ukraine shows that the ceasefire deal has not been fully observed.
The US State Department didn't provide the Russian foreign minister's response to Kerry’s accusations.
Washington accuses Moscow of providing heavy weaponry and training to pro-Russia fighters and of deploying air defense systems in eastern Ukraine.
Russia denounces the accusations as baseless and says Washington is responsible for the escalating tensions in Ukraine by sending arms in support of the Ukrainian army.
The Minsk Protocol was an agreement to halt the war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, signed on September 5, 2014. By January 2015, however, the Minsk Protocol ceasefire had completely collapsed. A new package of measures meant to stop fighting in the Donbass, called "Minsk II," was agreed to on 12 February 2015.
Despite the new peace plan and promises to pull back heavy weapons, Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian forces have been fighting fierce battles.
Ties between Washington and Moscow deteriorated last year after pro-Western forces ousted Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
The United States and the European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, including visa bans and asset freezes.
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