Cost to Russian Federation will rise if Ukraine ‘aggression persists’
They had blocked the relaunch of the power line despite Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s assurances that Kyiv would restore power supplies to the peninsula.
Disagreements between the government and parliament are stoking concerns that Ukraine could stumble in its reform drive.
“The US will maintain pressure until Moscow fulfils its Minsk commitments”, he said, warning there would be “no sanctions relief” until Russian Federation fully implemented its end of a peace deal signed in the Belarussian capital Minsk in February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last month said that Moscow was ready to spread out the repayment over three years after initially demanding that Kyiv make good on the full amount by late December.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is set to deliver remarks before Ukraine’s parliament Tuesday, one day after announcing $190 million in new U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Biden himself has been criticized in Ukraine; his messages of reform have been undermined by his son’s connection to a former Ukrainian official being investigated for fraud.
Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Monday that “this agreement will enter force on January 1, and this agreement is in the interests of the European Union and Ukraine”.
“It’s absolutely critical for Ukraine…to root out the cancer of corruption“, the USA vice president said.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has called on the Ukrainian lawmakers and members of the Government not to miss the chance to build the better future for Ukraine.
Biden also spoke out on the issue of graft in country where morale is sagging due to Poroshenko’s seeming inability to tackle the corruption that has plagued Ukraine for much most of its recent years.
He recalled the sacrifices of the Euromaidan Revolution, during which more than 100 activists were killed and hundreds more wounded.
It also documented “enforced disappearance, arbitrary and incommunicado detention as well as torture and ill treatment of people” suspected of joining or supporting separatist militia, and noted the “high degree of impunity” enjoyed by elements of Ukraine’s security services in such cases.
“He (Biden) is there to kind of reassure the Kyiv puppet ally government that the United States is standing behind them, ready for World War 3 against Russia”, Joachim Hagopian, an investigative journalist, told Press TV.