With tensions high over freedom of shipping on the Azov, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Washington on Friday

With tensions high over freedom of shipping on the Azov, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Washington on Friday: “United States will never accept Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea.” Without directly citing the Azov, he said Washington will impose “consequences until Russia returns control of the Black Sea peninsula to Ukraine.” Speaking alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Pompeo said Ukraine has “no greater friend than the United States” in its struggle against “Russian aggression.”