US Secretary of State John Kerry said he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday (March 2) that Moscow and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine must implement a ceasefire or face consequences that could hit Russia's economy.
Kerry told a news conference in Geneva that the ceasefire must be respected in all areas, including the town of Debaltseve and outside the city of Mariupol.
“I reiterated the urgency of Russia's leaders and the separatists that they back implementing the full measure of the commitments under the Minsk agreements and to implement them everywhere, including in Debaltseve, outside Mariupol and in other key strategic areas,” he said.
“If that does not happen, if there continue to be these broad swathes of non-compliance or there continues to be a cherry-picking as to where heavy equipment would be moved back from without knowing where it's been moved to, or if the OSCE is not able to adequately be able to gain the access necessary, then there would be inevitably further consequences that would place added strain on Russia's already troubled economy,” he added.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Monday that the death toll in eastern Ukraine was now more than 6,000 since April 2014.
Kerry said he hoped that OSCE monitoring and the ceasefire deal could be implemented in the coming hours and he had raised the issue with Lavrov at a meeting that lasted around an hour and 20 minutes.
Kerry said there had been some progress in talks with Iran on its nuclear program but there was still work to be done.
He also voiced concern about the possibility of selective leaks about the talks -- which he will resume with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Montreux, Switzerland -- in what seemed an allusion to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Tuesday to the US Congress.
“Israel's security is absolutely at the forefront of all of our minds. But frankly, so is the security of all the other countries in the region. So is our security in the United States,” he said.
Netanyahu says he fears that US President Barack Obama's Iran diplomacy, with an end-of-March deadline for a framework accord, will allow Israel's arch-foe to develop atomic weapons. US officials rule out such an outcome from any negotiated settlement.
The United States and some of its allies, notably Israel, suspect that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying its program is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity.
REUTERS
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