Russia can't mend ties with U.S. while it backs sanctions - Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov waves to media at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus December 2, 2015. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou -

ROME (Reuters) - Russia wants to mend ties with the United States but cannot do so while Barack Obama's administration backs economic sanctions against Moscow for its role in the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted on Thursday as saying.

The United States and European Union imposed sanctions after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula last year. They also accuse Moscow of supporting a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine in which more than 9,000 people have been killed.