Accusing Russia of “backtracking” on the commitments it made on Ukraine, the US has underlined the need to strengthen its transatlantic alliance to “push back” those who attempt to change sovereign borders by force.
“Through its occupation of Crimea and its subsequent destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine, Russia seeks to change the security landscape of Eastern and Central Europe,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“So we find ourselves in a defining moment for our transatlantic alliance, and nobody should mistake that. And we are prepared to do what we need to do, and to go the distance, to uphold that alliance,” Kerry said in his keynote address to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think-tank.
In his 20 minute speech, Kerry accused Russia of backtracking on the commitments it made in Geneva this month on Ukraine. “Not one single step has been taken by Russia in any public way that seriously attempts to live by the spirit or the law of what was signed in that agreement,” he alleged.