Tillerson: US, Russia could normalize ties but for Ukraine

VIENNA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held up the Ukraine crisis Thursday as the sole issue keeping the United States and Russia from forging a closer relationship, arguing that all other disputes are secondary.

"The issue that stands in the way is Ukraine," Tillerson said.

President Donald Trump campaigned on the need to improve ties with Russia, Tillerson said in Vienna, adding that "normalizing" the relationship was something the U.S. still "badly would like to do." He said that from the start, the Trump administration had told Moscow that addressing Ukraine was the key to easing conflict between the two nuclear powers.