Contracting side

Barack Obama Ready to lift sanctions from Russia if all the provisions of the Minsk agreements in Ukraine are fulfilled. According to RIA Novosti, this said US Secretary of State John Kerry following negotiations in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin.

"I repeated the promises of President Obama that the sanctions would be lifted if all the points of the Minsk agreements are fulfilled, including the withdrawal of all guns and troops and the return of the sovereignty of the Ukrainian border," Kerry said.

“We know that in recent years there have been disagreements between Russia and the United States, but subject discussions, as the one that took place today, lead to the best results. The momentary or inevitable, this is the path that we have chosen to solve the important problems that the world has encountered,” he added.

According to RBC, separately Kerry expressed the hope that the Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, sentenced in Russia to the 22 years of the colony, "will allow us to return to Ukraine." "This is a question of a humanitarian nature, which should be resolved immediately," said the Secretary of State. Also, Ukraine should be transferred to Ukraine who was illegally detained in Russia, he emphasized.

According to Kerry, Putin answered his question about Savchenko and "made it clear" that they could do "at a certain moment."

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov, in turn, said that Kerry received an “answer that is known to everyone”. “Representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Kremlin’s press service also spoke about this. I have nothing to add here,” Lavrov said.

We only confirmed that the state of health of Savchenko, which many are trying to speculate on, does not inspire any fears, ”said Lavrov. At the same time, as TASS reports , he recalled that in American prisons there are“ Russians illegally exported to the United States ”Viktor Bott and Konstantin Yaroshenko.

"Yaroshenko is one example. John said that he was convicted of participation in the drug business. Both Yaroshenko and Buta did not undertake any business. When one was in Liberia, and the other was in Thailand, the US agents were submitted to the drug dealers and persuaded their transport services. This is all that Buta and Yaroshenko agreed. Therefore, we are convinced that the sentences that they had sentenced to, which they were sentenced. Absolutely disproportionate, ”Lavrov emphasized.

The previous meeting of Kerry and Putin took place on December 15, 2015. The negotiations lasted for three hours, the main topic was the situation in Syria.

On Wednesday night in a telephone conversation, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joseph Biden coordinated positions in order to return Savchenko to Ukraine. They resolutely condemned her sentencing her sentence by the Russian court.

Later, the Russian ambassador to Kyiv Mikhail Zurabov said that Savchenko will be transferred to Ukraine in the next two weeks. According to the interlocutor of the "faces" attending the meeting, Zurabov noted that the Russian side was ready to return Savchenko to his homeland by March 8, but in Moscow they changed their minds after the attack on the Russian embassy in Kyiv, after which the Donetsk city court postponed a hearing in the pilot’s case, and she announced a hunger strike.