US readies further sanctions on Russia

The US said yesterday it was prepared to impose further targeted sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine and that European leaders had agreed to coordinate on steps to make Moscow pay.

The crisis escalated when armed pro-Russian separatists in the eastern city of Slaviansk seized a bus carrying international mediators. A separatist leader said the mediators were believed to have a Kiev “spy” among them.

The White House said US president Barack Obama and European allies all felt that Russia had escalated tension in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have refused to leave official buildings they have occupied. But it gave no details of what the sanctions might be, or when it planned to enact them.