Obama Threatens Fresh Sanctions against Russia

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday that the United States and its allies should prepare new sanctions against Russia if it escalates the crisis over Ukraine.

"The president underscored the need for the United States, European Union and other global partners to be prepared to meet further Russian escalation with additional sanctions," the White House said in a statement about the phone call.

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, "apparently with support from Moscow, continue an orchestrated campaign of incitement and sabotage to undermine and destabilize the Ukrainian state," it added.

"The leaders again called for Russia to move its troops back from the border region."
Obama told Merkel that the US, the European Union and their allies should prepare new sanctions against Russia if Moscow escalates the crisis in Ukraine.

Earlier in the day at World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew delivered the same warning to his Russian counterpart Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, ramping up the pressure on Moscow.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin has written to 18 European countries, warning that Ukraine's debt crisis has reached a "critical" level and could threaten transit to Europe. He also called for urgent cooperation, blaming Russia's partners for a lack of action.
Among the countries who'll receive the letter are major consumers of Russian gas such as Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland and Romania.
Given the accumulated $2.2 billion gas debt owed by Ukraine's Naftogas, Russia's Gazprom will be forced to ask Ukraine for advance payments, Putin said in his letter to European partners, referring to the 2009 gas contract signed between Moscow and Kiev.

"In other words, we'll be supplying exactly the volume of gas that Ukraine pays for a month in advance," as Itar -Tass quotes Putin's letter.

Putin added that introducing advance payments would be an extreme measure.
"We understand that this increases the risks of unsanctioned retrieval of gas flowing through the territory of Ukraine to European consumers. And it could also hinder accumulation of gas supplies in Ukraine necessary to provide for consumption during the autumn-winter period."