The State Department allowed a clause on the easing of sanctions in the agreement between Kyiv and Moscow

Easing sanctions against RUSSIA may be included in the Russian-Ukrainian peace agreement, but this is up to Kiev to decide, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Economics and Energy Jose Fernandez told the Financial Times.

“Our sanctions are always imposed with the understanding that, if necessary, they can be lifted,” he said, noting that this is still hard to imagine.

Fernandez also said the US has a long list of possible restrictions, including on oil .

Earlier, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke about the possible lifting of sanctions. He pointed out that their goal was "to change the behavior of Russia" and that they were not supposed to last forever. As the Secretary of State explained, if Ukraine decides that lifting restrictions will help end hostilities, the United States can do so.

At the same time, Deputy National Security Adviser to the President of the United States Duleep Singh, who participated in the development of sanctions, said at the end of March that Washington had not even come close to lifting restrictions. He also said that Russia should stop hostilities in Ukraine, Blinken also spoke about this.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the topic of sanctions appears in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, but declined to disclose details. The HEAD of the Russian delegation at the talks, Vladimir Medinsky, noted that the topic of sanctions is "one of the key negotiating topics at every meeting."