WASHINGTON, March 28. /TASS/. The Washington administration will analyze Moscow's position on lifting anti-Russian sanctions as part of the settlement in Ukraine, and US President Donald Trump will determine the next steps, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday.
He informed them that administration officials will hold a meeting with US officials who took part in expert consultations between Russia and the US in Riyadh and discuss the Russian side's position.
"We’re sort of going to analyze what they [Russia’s representatives] are raising and sort of study what exactly it is," Rubio said on board the plane en route to the United States after visiting Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname.
"It’s a host of sanctions, including sanctions that are not American," he added, speaking about the restrictions, the abolition of which the Russian side is seeking.
"They’re not even American sanctions, so we couldn’t lift them if we wanted to. We’re going to sort of analyze what our team came back [from consultations in Riyadh] with," Rubio stressed.
"We’ll present those options to the [US] President. The President will make those decisions. We’re not there yet," he clarified.
The US Secretary of State did not comment on statements from the leaders of a number of European countries stating that the time has not yet come to lift sanctions against Russia. When asked whether he believes that the Russian side is trying to delay negotiations on Ukraine, Rubio replied:
"Well, I’m not prepared to pass judgment on it. They’re meeting with us. They’re talking to us. They’re making proposals. They’re agreeing to ceasefires but with conditions that we need to analyze."
When asked whether, in his opinion, negotiations "at a higher level" than technical consultations will soon take place between Russia and the United States, the Secretary of State replied:
"Well, I think you have to make more progress on a technical level at this point, but we’ll see."
The transcript of Rubio's conversation with reporters was published by the State Department press service.
Following consultations between Russia and the United States in Riyadh, the Kremlin published a list of Russian and Ukrainian facilities that fall under a temporary moratorium on strikes on the energy system, as agreed upon by Moscow and Washington.
The energy ceasefire is in effect for 30 days from March 18. It can be automatically lifted in the event of violations, and an extension of the moratorium is also possible by mutual agreement.
Russia and the United States also agreed to implement the Black Sea initiative, including ensuring the safety of navigation. The agreements on the Black Sea will come into force after sanctions are lifted from Russian banks that provide trade in agricultural products and mineral fertilizers.