WASHINGTON, August 13 (HS/RIA Novosti) - The gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia should be a part of any future agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, Thomas Graham, a former Russia aide to US President George W. Bush, told RIA Novosti.

Sanctions relief has to be part of any negotiated settlement, Graham said.

He added that the parties would need to agree on which sanctions would be lifted, under what conditions and how compliance with the settlement would be monitored.

Most likely, sanctions will be lifted step-by-step in coordination with Russian steps to implement the agreed-upon settlement, Graham said.

Last week, the US Senate voted 86-11 to pass the bill spearheaded by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia). The draft legislation provides for a reduction in proposed tariffs on the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas from 500% to 100%. At the same time, the bill would set the rate of duty for all goods imported into the United States from Russia at 500%. The document would also seek sanctions against the Russian Central Bank, Sberbank, VTB, and Gazprombank banks.

Russia has repeatedly stressed that the country would cope with the sanctions pressure the West had begun to exert on Moscow several years ago and continued to escalate. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said the policy of containing and weakening Russia was a long-term Western strategy, with sanctions dealing a blow to the global economy.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar