BRUSSELS
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday
there could be no normal relations with Russia until Moscow ended its
support for separatists in Ukraine and returned Crimea, in comments
likely to reassure Western allies.
Speaking
after a dinner where he discussed Russia with NATO foreign ministers on
Tuesday, Tillerson took a tougher stance than U.S. President Donald
Trump, who has sought better relations with Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
Trump
said last month after meeting Putin in Vietnam that he believed Putin's
denial of accusations that Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.
That was despite U.S. intelligence agencies' evidence of Russian
interference.
At
NATO, Tillerson criticized "Russia's continued use of hybrid warfare"
and its attempts "to undermine Western institutions" in a reference to
the mix of state-sponsored computer hacks and Internet disinformation
campaigns that NATO allies' intelligence agencies say is targeted at the
West.
"This stands as a significant obstacle to normalizing our relations," Tillerson told reporters.
At
the NATO dinner with ministers, Tillerson also blamed Russia for
interfering in the U.S. election, said a diplomat who was present.
Russia has denied meddling.
Trump,
whose former aides are being investigated after accusations that Putin
influenced the election that brought him to the White House, has
repeatedly emphasized that it would be better if Russia and the United
States could work together.
Tillerson,
a former Exxon Mobil chief executive, has spent much of his time as
secretary of state trying to smooth the "America First" foreign policy
that has alarmed Trump's allies, but the president has publicly undercut
the secretary of state's diplomatic initiatives.
His
trip to Europe this week was partly overshadowed by reports the White
House had a plan to replace him, which Tillerson denied on Wednesday.
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U.N. PEACEKEEPERS
Tillerson
stressed to ministers that the Ukraine crisis, which was sparked by
Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea, was the central issue that blocked
better U.S.-Russia ties because seizing sovereign territory was
unacceptable, according to a second diplomat present.
The
conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has
claimed more than 10,000 lives since it erupted in 2014. Russia denies
accusations it fomented the conflict and provided arms and fighters.
"People are still dying every day from that violence," Tillerson said.
Tillerson,
who in 2013 as head of Exxon Mobil was awarded the Order of Friendship
by Putin, a Russian state honor, said he hoped to agree to deploy U.N.
troops to eastern Ukraine, an idea the Russian president floated in
September.
With
an internationally-agreed ceasefire long broken and efforts to revive a
2015 peace deal stalled, peacekeepers could end hostilities and allow
trade to resume between Russia and Ukraine.
But
Tillerson warned there was still a "significant difference between the
mandate that a peacekeeping force would be given and the scope of their
mandate".
"We hope we can close those gaps," Tillerson said.
Russia
is keen to see the end of Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine
crisis but European officials fear U.N. peacekeepers would freeze the
conflict rather than solving it.
Tillerson
also cautioned against treating Russia as a partner, saying all
meetings with Moscow should be based on issues, not agreed on the basis
of a calendar, quashing any hopes of a detente in Moscow's relations
with Washington.
"I
think there is broad consensus among all the NATO members that there is
no normalization of dialogue with Russia today," he said.
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