US Secretary of State calls on Russia to end eastern Ukraine fighting

World Today

New U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is calling on Russia to honor its commitments on eastern Ukraine.

Tillerson is in Germany meeting G-20 ministers his first foreign trip since taking office.

CCTV’s Guy Henderson reports.
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The former ExxonMobil message for Moscow sounds is not so different from that of his predecessor.

“Where we do not see eye-to-eye, the United States will stand up for the interests and values of America and her allies. As we search for new common ground, we expect Russia to honor its commitment to the Minsk agreements and work to de-escalate the violence in the Ukraine,” Tillerson said.

Meeting face to face with his Russian counterpart was supposed to mark the start of a thaw. Instead, both sides seemed guarded.

Neither would directly address how reported links between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team and Russian intelligence during the U.S. election might affect relations.

“It is obvious that we could not have resolved all the issues. I think they cannot ever be resolved completely between two major states such as Russian and the United States. But we have common understanding that where our interests coincide – and they do in multiple areas – we should move forward,” Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister said.