TOKYO-
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he was poised to impose new sanctions on Moscow if it does not act fast to end an armed stand-off in Ukraine, but there was a first, tentative sign that pro-Russian separatists were ceding ground.
Moscow also flexed its economic muscles in its worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War, with the government suggesting foreign firms which pull out of the country may not be able to get back in, and a source at Gazprom saying the gas exporter had slapped an additional $11.4 billion bill on Kiev.
Under an international accord signed in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups in Ukraine, including the pro-Russian rebels occupying about a dozen public buildings in the east of the country, are supposed to disarm and go home.
Washington accuses Moscow of fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine while Russia denies this and counters that Europe and the United States are supporting an illegitimate government in Kiev.
“So far at least we have seen them not abide by the spirit or the letter of the agreement in Geneva,” Obama said of the Russian leadership on a visit to Japan.
“We have prepared for the possibility of applying additional sanctions,” he told a news conference. “There’s always the possibility that Russia, tomorrow, or the next day, reverses its course and takes a different approach.”
So far, the United States and European Union have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on a few Russians in protest at Moscow’s annexation last month of Crimea from Ukraine.
However, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying that he expected “the Geneva accords will be implemented in practical actions in the near future”.
In NATO member Poland, the first group of a contingent of around 600 U.S. soldiers arrived on Wednesday. They are part of an effort by Washington to reassure eastern European allies who are worried by a build-up of Russian forces near Ukraine’s borders.
In Ukraine, there were the first substantial signs that the Geneva accord is being implemented.
Kiev troops with five light armored vehicles took control of a checkpoint north of the city of Slaviansk on Thursday after separatists appeared to abandon the position, Reuters journalists said from the scene.
Earlier, the Western-backed government said the city hall in Mariupol, which had been seized by separatists, was now back under central control. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the mayor was back in his office.
“In this instance there were no casualties … The process of getting the situation back to normal in the city will continue,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
Kiev also reported a shootout overnight in another part of the east when a Ukrainian soldier was wounded, while pro-Russian separatists who control Slaviansk were holding three journalists, including U.S. citizen Simon Ostrovsky.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, slid into unrest late last year when Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a pact to build closer ties with Europe. Protesters took over central Kiev, forcing him to flee in February.
Days later, Russian troops seized control of Crimea. Moscow then annexed the region, saying it was protecting Russian residents, while the West called the action an illegal land grab.
The focus has now shifted to eastern Ukraine, the industrial heartland and home to a large Russian-speaking community.
