U.S. says separatists 'harassing' Ukraine monitors to prevent reporting of violations:
The United States has accused Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine of a campaign of "violence and harassment" against international monitors aimed at preventing them from reporting truce violations.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on June 22 that Washington was "deeply concerned" about the situation, describing the separatists as "Russian-led, Russian-funded, and Russian-trained."
Nauert said that on June 20 separatist forces fired at retreating Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) vehicles carrying monitors, and in April an American paramedic accompanying the monitors was killed when his truck hit an explosive.
"The incidents are part of a broader effort to keep the international community from seeing what is happening in eastern Ukraine," she said.
"We call on Russia to use its influence to end this campaign of intimidation and honor its commitment to allow free, full, and safe access to the OSCE monitors."
A new cease-fire between Ukrainian troops and the separatists is due to come into effect on June 23.
Previous truces in the conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014 have broken down. (AFP, Reuters)
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, June 22, 2017. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Russia: New U.S. Sanctions Threaten Bilateral Relations
WASHINGTON -- Russia's Foreign Мinistry slammed new U.S. sanctions that target mainly Russian people and companies linked to the Ukraine conflict, saying the move puts at "serious risk" the entire bilateral relationship.
The comments were released June 22 after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
They were the latest in a series of increasingly angry comments by Russian officials about the sanctions, announced earlier this week.
"Such actions put at serious risk the entire system of Russian-American relations, which were going through a difficult period even without this," the ministry said.
The State Department had no immediate comment about the Lavrov-Tillerson phone call.
A day earlier, the ministry abruptly announced the cancellation of talks between Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, and a top U.S. State Department diplomat, Tom Shannon.
In that announcement, Ryabkov threatened unspecified retaliation for the newly announced sanctions.