Bloomberg News
Published: February 23, 2015
LONDON — Russia will face more economic sanctions if separatists in eastern Ukraine use its support to violate a truce agreement and push for more territorial gains, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.
While fighting has subsided since the cease-fire accord came into force on Feb. 15, the government in Kiev said Monday that pro-Russian separatists continued to shell its forces near the Sea of Azov port city of Mariupol.
Russia’s supply of equipment and fighters made it possible for the insurgents to attack and take control of the crossroad town of Debaltseve last week, Cameron said. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the conflict that has killed more than 5,600 people and sent its ties with the European Union and the U.S. to the lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
“Russia must be in no doubt that any attempts by the separatists to expand their territory — whether towards Mariupol or elsewhere — will be met with further significant EU and U.S. sanctions,” Cameron told lawmakers in London. “Russia must change course now — or the economic pain it endures will only increase.”
Cameron’s warning echoed a similar statement by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said Saturday that more penalties may be imposed against Russia if violations of the truce continue.
Ukraine has accused Moscow of sending more troops into the east of the country since the truce was agreed upon in Belarusian capital Minsk on Feb. 12.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said on Monday it will send the 16th humanitarian convoy to the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk republics on Tuesday.
A 15-year-old boy died in the hospital on Monday, becoming the third person killed in a bomb attack at pro-Ukraine rally in the eastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, Interfax news service reported, citing press office of the Kharkiv city council.
———
(With assistance from Yulia Surkova in Kiev.)
No comments:
Post a Comment