Germany indicated on Sunday that the West would agree to impose additional sanctions on Russia in the coming days after Ukraine accused Russian forces of war crimes near Kyiv, escalating the already massive economic pressure on Russia over its invasion.
Russia’s economy is in the grip of its worst crisis since the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991, thanks to severe sanctions imposed by the US and its allies in response to Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia denied on Sunday that its forces were responsible for the killings of civilians in Bucha and said that Ukraine staged a show for Western media.
According to Reuters, there were corpses sprawled over the village. One had his hands bound with white fabric and appeared to have been shot in the mouth. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of genocide.
More sanctions have been threatened by the West.
‘Putin and his followers will bear the consequences’ of their actions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in a statement.
According to German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, the European Union could discuss halting Russian gas imports.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has so far resisted calls to impose an embargo on Russian energy supplies, claiming that its economy, as well as that of other European countries, is overly reliant on them. Russia provides 40% of Europe’s gas demand.
The events in Bucha have ‘unleashed a wave of indignation that will lead to new sanctions,’ according to Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who added that ‘in the next few hours there could be a debate on the issue of imports of hydrocarbons from Russia,’ and that Italy would not veto a fifth package of sanctions.
The US said individuals guilty for any war crimes must be held accountable, Britain said sanctions will be tightened, and France condemned ‘major atrocities’ by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
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