Local Editor

United States President Barack Obama said on Friday that the US and European Union are still prepared to impose sanctions against Russia if the crisis in Ukraine continues to escalate following the signing of a ceasefire agreement.

Speaking in Wales at the close of a major NATO alliance summit on Friday, Obama said the US intends to go ahead with new sanctions revealed by the White House on Thursday this week.

"With respect to the ceasefire agreement, obviously we are hopeful but based on past experience also skeptical that in fact the separatists will follow through and the Russians will stop violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. So it has to be tested," Obama told a Friday news conference as he was leaving a two-day NATO summit in Wales.

He called on his European allies to agree on new sanctions against Russia that could be suspended if the truce is violated.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that the latest sanctions being threatened against Moscow by European powers could be "suspended" again if the ceasefire deal is a success.

"Everything is in flux," Merkel said. "Therefore we should expect that these sanctions could indeed be put into force, but with the provison that they can be suspended again if this process really takes place," she said, Reuters reported.

One day earlier on Thursday, a White House spokesperson said that the US is readying a new wave of sanctions to impose against Russia as a result of Moscow's perceived role in the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, and the EU was expected to do the same, targeting both the federation's energy and defense sectors.

The ceasefire was signed after two hours of negotiations in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on Friday between former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, who represented the government in Kiev, and rebel leaders, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team