KIEV--Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its "coercion and aggression" after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow.
Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only after Russia had fully implemented a peace deal on ending a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine and returned control of Crimea.
Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, raised the prospect that he would propose offering to end the sanctions imposed over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its role in the rebellion in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal. Without mentioning Trump, Biden appeared to take issue with the President-elect's comments made in an interview published in Monday's edition of the Times of London.
"The international community must continue to stand as one against Russian coercion and aggression," he told reporters, standing alongside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Biden stressed the 2015 deal on ending the rebellion by pro-Russian insurgents which is still continuing, with Washington accusing Moscow of failing to keep its side of the bargain. "Together with our EU and G7 partners, we made it clear that sanctions should remain in place until Russia fully, emphasise fully, implements its commitments under the Minsk agreement," he said, adding that Crimea-related sanctions must also stay "until Russia returns full control to the people of Ukraine."
U.S. support for Ukraine has contributed to a deterioration in relations with Russia to their worst since the Cold War. Under President Barack Obama, Washington has invested heavily in helping Kiev make a success of a 2013-2014 uprising which forced a Kremlin-backed leader to flee and installed the pro-Western opposition in power.
Trump's open admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated desire to improve bilateral ties have stoked fears in Kiev that U.S. resolve to hold Russia to account could waver. Biden has mixed support with some tough talking about Ukraine's patchy efforts in tackling graft, and has previously warned that international help is conditional on Kiev making good on promises to tackle endemic bribe-taking.
"You're fighting ... the cancer of corruption," Biden, who leaves office on Jan. 20 along with Obama, said on Monday.
