Obama says further sanctions against Russia “teed up”

The US-Russian war of words over Ukraine persisted during President Barack Obama’s Asian tour. In Tokyo, he accused Moscow Thursday of failing to halt actions by pro-Russian militants in Ukraine and failing to act “either in the spirit or the letter of the agreement in Geneva". He said the US had further sanctions against Russia "teed up".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov charged Washington with “running the show very much, very much.” As proof, Lavrov pointed to the timing of the Ukrainian government's re-launch of its security operation just after a two-day visit by US Vice President Joe Biden. The Ukraine army “had been ordered to shoot at people engaged in peaceful protests,” he said, yet Kiev had failed to disarm its own extremists.