The US has for years tried to broker a fair settlement working with France and Russia in the Minsk Group, US State Department Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, Daniel Fried, told Radio Liberty on Thursday.

''The US has for years tried to broker a fair settlement working with France and Russia in the Minsk Group. So we’ve tried, I tried myself when I was assistant secretary, and people have tried before and people have tried since. It hasn’t worked. The governments there need to decide whether they want the constant drain of war, small scale flare-ups, or whether they want an actual settlement,'' he said.

''The trouble is, the governments become too comfortable with the problem and they think in terms of short-term not in terms of long-term. They need to decide what they want and if they want peace, the United States is going to be ready to help,'' the official stressed.