Russia faces \\\'greater isolation\\\' if fails to defuse Ukraine crisis : Biden

FE Team | Published: April 23, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

KIEV, April 22 (agencies): US Vice President Joe Biden warned Russia on Tuesday that it faces "more costs" if it refuses to pull back troops massed along Ukraine's border and stop fuelling separatist unrest in the east.
"More provocative behaviour will lead to more costs and greater isolation," Biden told a news conference in Kiev.
Meanwhile: Russia is ready to face a new round of Western sanctions over Ukraine, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.
"I am sure we will be able to minimise their consequences," he said in a televised speech to parliament.
"The government is ready to act in conditions when the priority of our work becomes protecting the economy and citizens from such unfriendly acts that could follow due to the escalating foreign policy situation."
Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said Tuesday that the seizure of another state building by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine had effectively torn up an international deal to end the crisis in the country.
The separatist capture of a police station in the town of Kramatorsk "put a cross through all the agreements reached in Geneva," Turchynov told US Vice President Joe Biden during a meeting, a statement from the presidency said.
Another report adds: The United States could impose sanctions on a range of Russian officials over the crisis in Ukraine, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday.
Asked in an interview on Twitter whether the United States was considering the possibility of hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin personally with sanctions, Psaki replied: "Range of officials under consideration. Plenty to sanction before we would discuss President Putin."