VIENNA, December 8. /TASS/. The Ukrainian crisis is the major obstacle that keeps the United States and Russia from mending ties, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council’s meeting in Vienna.

According to Tillerson, US President Donald Trump has always sought to establish good relations with Russia and the two leaders have had several meetings as part of high-level international events over the past year.

"We can have differences in other arenas, in Syria. We can have differences in other areas," Tillerson said. "But the issue that stands in the way is Ukraine," he stressed.

The two-day meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers opened on Thursday at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna. The agenda includes the crisis in Ukraine, the war on terror, arms control and other issues. Some 40 top diplomats are taking part in the meeting, including Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillerson.