EU will hit Russia with tougher sanctions if Ukraine truce fails, Merkel says

The EU is ready to hit Russia with tougher sanctions if a ceasefire deal brokered last month is seriously violated, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, according to Euronews.

“So far we’ve got a fragile ceasefire which needs to be stabilised,” Merkel told journalists in Brussels.

“But if the Minsk agreement is seriously violated, European leaders and the (European) Commission stand ready to prepare and impose further sanctions,” she added.

The Minsk agreement is a ceasefire deal brokered on February 12 by Germany’s Merkel; French President Francois Hollande; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

EU member states have so far agreed a number of travel bans and asset freezes against senior Ukrainian and Russian officials linked to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Western powers accuse Moscow of backing separatists in two self-proclaimed rebel statelets in Donetsk and Lugansk with troops, weapons and money; it is a charge that Russia has repeatedly denied, insisting it is not a party to the conflict.