NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that more sanctions will be imposed on Russia if the situation in southeastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate.
"I have no doubt the 'international community' will respond with tougher sanctions if Russia continues to intervene further," he told reporters during his visit to Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
The statement came on the day Russia announced embargo on US and European agricultural goods in response to the latest Western restrictions on the country’s economic, defense and energy sectors.
The first round of sanctions against Russia was implemented by the United States and the European Union back in March as a response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia following a referendum.
As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, the United States pressed for its Western allies to follow its lead. Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Japan caved in to the US sanctions push and drew up their own blacklists.
The European Union has so far imposed a total of nine rounds of sanctions, with two of them against the former Ukrainian leadership and seven against Russia. Washington has adopted a total of six rounds of anti-Russia sanctions.
Moscow has repeatedly called the measures counterproductive and denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
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