UNITED NATIONS (AP) – U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley condemned Russia’s “aggressive actions” in eastern Ukraine on Thursday and warned Moscow that U.S. sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea will remain until the peninsula is returned to Ukraine.
But the new American envoy tempered her criticism, saying it was “unfortunate” that she had to condemn Russia in her first appearance at the U.N. Security Council.
“We do want to better our relations with Russia,” Haley said, echoing President Donald Trump who has also said he wants a better relationship with President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow has applauded Trump’s promises to rebuild U.S.-Russian relations, which have been pushed to their worst level since the Cold War, and Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin reacted calmly to Haley’s criticism saying he “detected quite a bit of change of tone.”
“It was friendly enough, given the circumstances and given the subject we were discussing,” he said of Hayley’s statement at the council meeting called by Ukraine after a major escalation of violence. “I wouldn’t want to call it friendly.”