Photo Credit: AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply
US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ukraine later this month, officials said, as Washington warned Moscow of “additional consequences” if it fails to reduce tensions with Ukraine.
The announcement came just a day after Washington unveiled sanctions against six of Crimea’s breakaway leaders, including the official who signed the deal with Moscow to split the peninsula from Ukraine.
During a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry “made clear that if Russia did not take steps to de-escalate in eastern Ukraine and move its troops back from Ukraine’s border, there would be additional consequences,” a senior State Department official said.
Washington has repeatedly urged Moscow to de-escalate tensions and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine’s eastern border in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
A first wave of US sanctions unveiled in March had blacklisted officials and businesspeople close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to protest Moscow’s takeover of Crimea.
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US Warns Russia of ‘Additional Consequences’ Over Ukraine