On Thursday, June 3, the representative of the US mission, Courtney Austrian, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, said that US sanctions against Russia will remain in effect until the Russian Federation ends its occupation of Crimea.
“We do not and will never recognize Russia's proposed annexation of Crimea. We join our European and other partners in approving our Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, which will continue to operate until Russia fully complies with its Minsk commitments and will return Ukraine full control over Crimea”,- the message said.
The United States condemned the sentence in absentia to Refat Chubarov, who was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of 200,000 rubles. And also the States are deeply concerned about the situation with the Crimean journalist Vladyslav Yosypenko.
“We call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea, end the persecution of Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and other ethnic and religious minorities, and release all political prisoners from Ukraine, which it holds in custody. Next, we call on Russia to abide by its obligations as a signatory of all three Minsk agreements and withdraw its military and equipment from the east of Ukraine”,- added Austrian.