The willingness of the United States to consider imposing additional sanctions against Russia was underlined by German Foreign Minister Johan Vandefull, stressing that as long as Vladimir Putin shows no willingness to engage in serious negotiations, the Europeans will be ready to escalate the measures already in place.

Speaking in Brussels on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts, Vandevol expressed the West’s frustration with Moscow’s stance. “It is discouraging to see that Russia has not taken this step. We should react,” he said, referring to the fact that there has been no immediate and unconditional ceasefire from the Russian side.

The German official also stressed that the expectations from Washington are clear: “We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing and one thing only from Russia – an immediate ceasefire, without conditions. We also expect our American allies not to tolerate the absence of this commitment from Moscow.”