U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the international community is discussing additional sanctions on Russia for its land grabs in Ukraine, saying Russia has engaged in “an absolutely brazen and cynical process” over the past few days.
Speaking in London before talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry told reporters the U.S. and its allies are not going to go along with what he said was Russia’s “extraordinarily craven behavior.” He noted Russia has led an effort in the United Nations to place responsibility for unrest in eastern Ukraine on the Ukrainian government, while continuing what Kerry called “land-grabbing” in that region.
“There is no secret to any of us, not in this age of all kinds of visibility and technical means and satellites and the ability to watch what people are doing,” he said. “We know to a certainty what Russia has been providing to the separatists, how Russia is involved with the separatists and the ways in which Russia has cynically been willing to go to, even lead an effort in the U.N., even simultaneously as it is continuing to do land-grabbing in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused the Kremlin Friday of direct involvement in the sniper deaths of anti-Russian protesters last year in Kyiv’s Maidan Square.
He made the charge on the first anniversary of the killings, saying Ukraine’s security services have the evidence.
The Russian foreign ministry called the accusation “ravings” and “madness.”
The White House, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all warned on Friday that Moscow faces higher costs and more isolation if Russian-backed separatists continue violating the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine signed last week.
The separatists and the Ukrainian government accuse each other of cease-fire violations, including this week’s rebel takeover of the important railroad town of Debaltseve.
A Ukrainian military spokesman said pro-Russian separatists repeatedly fired on Ukrainian positions overnight Thursday into Friday.
He also said Russia is still moving military equipment into Ukraine, including tanks in the direction of Novoazovsk, a rebel-held town near Mariupol.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke by telephone Friday with President Poroshenko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The White House said Biden agreed with both leaders that Russia cannot keep hiding behind the false claim that local separatists are solely responsible for the latest military moves in eastern Ukraine.
