Russia threatened with new sanctions

In a statement released on Friday, the White House said that US President Barack Obama, his French counterpart Francois Holland, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi agreed, during a conference call, to coordinate additional steps.

“The president noted that the United States is prepared to impose targeted sanctions to respond to Russia’s latest actions,” the statement said.

“The leaders agreed to work closely together, and through the G7 (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States) and European Union, to coordinate additional steps to impose costs on Russia. The leaders underscored that Russia could still choose a peaceful resolution to the crisis, including by implementing the Geneva accord,” it added.

The Geneva deal was reached on April 17 between Kiev’s interim government, the US, Russia and the EU with the aim of easing tensions between Kiev and protesters in eastern Ukraine.

At a press conference in the South Korean capital Seoul earlier in the day, Obama said that Washington had already lined up new sanctions that are ready to be imposed.

He, however, stressed that the US and its European allies should have a united approach.

Meanwhile, at a joint press conference with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the German capital Berlin, Merkel called on EU foreign ministers to meet as soon as possible to act on the new sanctions.

“We will have to act, and I think this will be a common European action, and a joint action of the G7 states,” the German chancellor said on Friday.

Tensions between the West and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and became part of Russia following a referendum on March 16, in which almost 97 percent of the participants voted for rejoining the Russian Federation.