Western leaders have called for a “strong reaction” from the international community to any major violation of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as they seek to further pressure Russia over the conflict.
The leaders of the US, Germany, France, Britain and Italy plus European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday also argued for strengthening a mission charged with monitoring the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
In video talks on the conflict, the leaders restated their support for the Feb. 12 truce between government forces and pro-Russian separatists, the French presidency said.
“They agreed that a strong reaction from the international community would be necessary in the case of a major violation in the implementation” of the deal signed in the Belarus capital, Minsk, a statement said.
The leaders did not specify what a “major” break from the accord might be, nor what response it would provoke, but hinted at the possibility of further sanctions on Moscow, which the West and Kiev accuse of supporting the rebels with troops and weapons.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi joined US President Barack Obama and Tusk on the video conference.
Renzi was due to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev yesterday to discuss the tenuous ceasefire.
Both the Ukrainian army and the rebels who took up arms after the ouster of pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych claim to be upholding a commitment to move their artillery back from the frontline, but the two sides also accuse each other of continuing to spring attacks.
Poroshenko on Tuesday called for 10 locations “where the ceasefire is constantly violated” to have permanent supervision from monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Ukraine said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had backed the suggestion in a four-way telephone call with Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande on Monday.
The offices of Hollande, Merkel, and Putin, in their statements on the discussion, called for intensified monitoring without listing sites.
The areas cited by Kiev as requiring close watch include the vicinity of the rebel-held airport in the separatist hub of Donetsk, as well as the village of Shyrokine, on the outskirts of the strategic port city of Mariupol, the only major city in the conflict zone still in government hands.
Kiev and its allies fear the city of half a million could be the target for a new separatist offensive aimed at opening up a land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia a year ago.
Meanwhile, Obama yesterday ordered a one-year extension of visa bans and asset freezes imposed on Russian government officials and others involved in the crisis in Ukraine.
The sanctions imposed in an executive order in March last year remain necessary because the Russian government’s actions “including its purported annexation of Crimea and its use of force in Ukraine, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” Obama said in a notice to Congress published by the White House yesterday.
Individuals affected by the measures include Russian presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev, presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, Yanukovych and self-declared prime minister of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov.
The sanctions would have expired automatically without the decision to renew them.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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