Tillerson: Russia must restore Ukraine territory or sanctions stay

KIEV, Ukraine — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson assured Ukraine’s leader on Sunday the United States would not lift economic sanctions against Russia until it “reverses the actions” that prompted them and restores the country’s “territorial integrity,” appearing to set the same high bar for sanctions relief the Obama administration did.

Tillerson’s strongly worded statement, issued at a news conference in Kiev alongside President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, seemed to insist that Moscow withdraw Russian troops and heavy weapons from the eastern part of Ukraine and return Crimea, the Black Sea territory Russia annexed in 2014 — though Tillerson never specifically mentioned that disputed peninsula by name.

His comments came on the same day President Donald Trump said the issue of sanctions was not discussed at his meeting Friday with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. And Trump walked into a new controversy over his response to Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election with his declaration on Twitter that he and Putin had agreed to create “an impenetrable Cyber Security unit,” suggesting for the first time that the two biggest adversaries in cyberspace would somehow police it together.

Trump’s tweet came as intelligence officials appeared increasingly convinced Russian cyberactivity continued well after the election, and the Russian government was likely behind recent intrusions into business systems at U.S. nuclear power plants.

Trump said Sunday he had “strongly pressed” Putin twice during their meeting last week on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, over interference in the election. Putin’s primary diplomatic objective during their meeting was thought to be the lifting of Western sanctions. Trump had questioned the value of those sanctions during his 2016 campaign for president, and Putin may have seen his best opportunity to achieve that goal.

But in a statement posted on Twitter minutes after Tillerson finished speaking, Trump wrote that “sanctions were not discussed in my meeting with President Putin,” and added, “Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved!”