Tillerson, Lavrov reach no new agreement on Ukraine

Ukraine took the backseat to Syria in a five-hour meeting in Moscow on April 12 between U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after which they told a press conference that no new agreements were reached in either conflict. Regarding Ukraine, they repeated the “single common position” of the need to fulfill the Minsk Accords. “Until full progress is made under the Minsk Accords, the situation in Ukraine will remain an obstacle to improvement in relations between the U.S. and Russia,” said Tillerson, adding that they didn’t discuss changing sanctions. The U.S. and Russia will continue bilateral contact “to find practical ways forward to fulfill the Minsk agreements,” Lavrov said.

Zenon Zawada: Though the presidential candidacy of U.S. President Trump seemed to offer the prospect of a breakthrough in the conflict over Ukraine, it’s now apparent to us that Trump will settle for a stalemate with Russia on Ukraine. That is what’s precisely expressed by the hackneyed statements referring to the need to implement the Minsk Accords, which are widely recognized to be dead and buried. Not only will the conflict over Ukraine not improve, but it could worsen given that Western sanctions continue to harm the Russian economy and impede the ability of Russian elites to travel in the West.

It’s now apparent that Trump won’t cut any deal on Russia sanctions this year, even if Marine Le Pen becomes French president. Trump’s shift away from America First towards a neo-conservative foreign policy is largely related to his recent decision to align himself with his son-in-law Jared Kushner and to distance the nationalist ideologue Steve Bannon from his inner circle. With a single missile strike in Syria, Trump managed to shoot down all the hysteria regarding his alleged ties to the Russians. He has also realigned his foreign policy away from Russia, disappointing his nationalist electorate but earning the respect of the globalist elite.