From our newsroom:
The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy agreed by telephone on July 28 they would impose new sanctions on Russia for its role in the crisis in Ukraine.
The French president's office released a statement about the call that said the five leaders "confirmed…their intention to adopt new measures against Russia."
There were no details about the sanctions the five discussed.
The statement added the leader said they would watch carefully to see if Russia was giving direct military support to the separatists.
The call came as the United States and the European Union weigh tougher sanctions against Russia amid the crisis over Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which went down over eastern Ukraine July 17.
The West accuses separatists in eastern Ukraine of shooting down the passenger jet and blames Russia for supplying the rebels with equipment able to do so.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
Paul Goble argues that "until recently at least, [Putin] has behaved more like the man who killed a frog by slowly bringing the water in a pot to boil rather than simply hacking off its head."
On the topic of the IMF and World Bank, btw, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who offered his resignation last week, told a news conference in Kyiv today, according to Reuters:
"I would like to underscore that the failure to pass these laws will lead to the absence of financing for the Ukrainian Armed Forces because the Ukrainian Finance Ministry clearly reported that as of August 1, we have no money to pay salaries to the Armed Forces, National Guard and all others who are defending Ukraine. There will be no money for restoration of infrastructure in the eastern regions. There will be no money at all for supporting Ukraine in general. Additionally, it means a breakdown of our program with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank."
No news yet on how Ukrainian Foreign Minister Klimkin's meeting went with IMF Managing Director Christine Legarde.
This tweet from before the meeting says, "Conversation will be extremely important. I don't need to explain why."
From AFP:
Britain on Monday announced major joint manoeuvres in Poland in October, part of a string of NATO exercises in the region aimed at reassuring eastern Europe members jittery over a resurgent Russia.
"I can announce today exercise Black Eagle, which will be a significant Polish and UK armoured exercise with over 350 British armoured and other vehicles and some 1,350 British personnel," British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in Warsaw.
The deployment will be the "largest British contribution to exercises in eastern Europe since 2008," he said at a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Poland's foreign and defence ministers.
Anybody's guess as to what DPR "defense minister" Strelkov's game is at this press conference, aside from trying to ascribe blame for civilian casualties to Ukrainian forces.
Russian stocks and currency continued to slide today for a third straight session, says Reuters:
Moscow's dollar-denominated RTS index slumped 2.5 percent in response, its rouble-traded peer MICEX fell 1.8 percent and the rouble dropped over half a percent against both the dollar and the euro.