Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday said the United States and its western allies would consider imposing additional sanctions on Russia amid reports of violence in Ukraine in the wake of a ceasefire.
“Russia has engaged in an absolutely brazen and cynical process over these last days,” Kerry told reporters in London before a meeting with his British counterpart, Philip Hammond.
“We are talking about additional sanctions, about additional efforts, and I’m confident over the next days people will make it clear that we are not going to play this game … and be part of this kind of extraordinarily craven behavior,” the secretary of state added.
Just last week, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France finalized a ceasefire that western powers hoped would bring peace in Southeast Ukraine.
Since then, however, international observers have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of doing nothing to ensure Russian-backed separatists stand down in Ukraine.
The threat of new sanctions comes as the Obama administration weighs whether to send lethal arms to Ukrainian forces, which have been overmatched in the conflict with the separatists. President Obama has expressed reservations about such a plan, as have the leaders of France and Germany, but the continuing violence in Ukraine could bring a new urgency to those deliberations.
