The United States will tighten sanctions against Russia, if the militiamen in Donbass begin an attack.
According to Associated Press, this was stated by the official US State Department spokesman John Kirby. Kirby expressed a concern in connection with the recent attacks on the positions of the Ukrainian army near Donetsk and Mariupol and accused the militiamen of the use of heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements.
“Russia is directly responsible for these aggressive actions” - the representative of the State Department stated and warned that the seizure of new territories by the militiamen would lead to “an increase in prices” for Moscow. Kirby failed to tell exactly what new sanctions could be imposed by the United States and did not answer the question whether the Russian military were fighting together with the militiamen.
At the same time he noted that Washington welcomed the preliminary decision of the European Union to extend its sanctions on Russia by six months, as TASS reports.
On June 12 CNN Channel reported, that the United States and the European Union were completing the preparation of new sanctions against Russia to impose them in case of escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, quoting the high-ranking sources in the US White House and the EU.
According to the sources, the new sanctions include the expansion of the black list of Russian citizens and companies. The extension of sanctions against the financial, energy and defense sectors of Russia is also being considered.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina