With Russia failing to abide by the agreement made in Geneva, President Obama warned that sanctions were already lined up and which take a matter of day and not weeks to come into effect.
In speaking during a state visit to Japan, which was to reassert their commitment to the host country, Obama said, “Assuming they do not follow through, we will follow through with what we said, which is that there will be additional consequences on the Russians. Do I think they’re going to do that? So far the evidence doesn’t make me hopeful.”
Unfortunately, with events involving Kiev sending in the army to eliminate pro-Russian rebels and Moscow ordering new military exercises on the border, it seems as if the President might be right about the Moscow not abiding “by the spirit or the letter” of the agreement which sought to de-escalate tensions in eastern Ukraine.
As for the new round of sanctions, they will target business figures that are around Vladimir Putin as well as a few banks and state-owned companies. Apart from this, there are broader sanctions that can (and will now) be imposed if there is a Russian military intervention in both eastern and southern Ukraine.
Danylo Lubkivsky, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, goes on to say that it is time to impose a fresh set of sanctions on Russia even though he wishes for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
He also pointed out that Russia has already crossed a new red line which calls for tougher economic sanctions on the Kremlin.