Rice, who coordinates foreign policy at
the White House, said she saw potential for resolution in the Ukraine crisis by
the end of the year, and said U.S. officials were intensifying their work with
French and German counterparts on the Minsk deal, signed in February 2015.
"This is something that could get done between now and the end of
the administration if the Russians in particular exhibit sufficient political
will," Rice said at a Washington
Post event.
Obama is set to leave office on January 20, 2017.
"We are hopeful if the Russians
want to resolve this—and we have some reason to believe they might—we have the
time and the wherewithal and the tools to do so," Rice said.
More than 9,000 people have been killed
since April 2014 in violence between Russian-backed separatists in Eastern
Ukraine and the Kiev government.
The United States and European Union
have stood firm on economic sanctions on Russia pending progress implementing
security measures and electoral reforms included in the Minsk ceasefire deal.
EU leaders are set to weigh extending the sanctions at a summit at the end of
June.
Rice said she would not put odds on
whether it would happen, and acknowledged that time could run short, noting
"there are no sure bets" that the Ukrainian parliament would be able
to ratify electoral reforms that are part of the agreement.
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