US threatens Russia with more sanctions
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 13, 2014 4:15PM GMT
Washington has threatened again to impose more sanctions against Russia if pro-Russia protests continue in Ukraine.
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told ABC's 'This Week' that the latest events in Ukraine bore "the telltale signs of Moscow's involvement."
"I think we've seen that the sanctions can bite and if actions like the kind we've seen over the last few days continue, you're going to see a ramping up of those sanctions," Power added.
"The president has made clear that, depending on Russian behavior, that sectoral sanctions in energy, banking, mining could be on the table, and there's a lot in between."
Separatist sentiment has been on the rise in eastern and southern Ukraine after the Crimea Peninsula decided to separate from Ukraine and rejoin Russia in a referendum that was held on 16th of March 2014.
The fresh round of pro-Russia protests which began in cities like Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk have now spread to other cities and towns such as Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka, Yenakiyevo and Mariupol in the east and Mikolayev, Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk in the south.
On Sunday, anti-government protestors seized the city councils of Kharkiv, Artyomovsk Mikolayev.
The US says pro-Russian protests are not grass-roots popular movements rather they are instigated by Russia.
"It's professional, coordinated. Nothing grassroots about it … The forces are doing in each of the six or seven cities they have been active in exactly the same thing. So, certainly, it bears the tell-tale signs of Moscow's involvement," Samantha Power said.
She also suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to control eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian security forces launched an operation on Sunday to clear pro-Russian activists from state buildings in the city of Slaviansk.
Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that armed action by Ukrainian authorities in the east of Ukraine could undermine forthcoming four-party talks involving Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU which are to kick off on Thursday in Geneva.
DDB/DDB
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