Struggling to defuse the persistent crisis in Ukraine, both the United States and the European Union imposed new economic sanctions on Russia Wednesday, with President Barack Obama declaring that Russian leaders must see that their actions supporting rebels "have consequences," according to Reuters.
Though the American and European sanctions were coordinated, they nonetheless exposed fissures in what the West has tried to project as a united front in its months-long effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported.
The penalties announced by the White House were broad in scope, targeting two major Russian energy firms, a pair of powerful financial institutions, eight arms firms and four individuals, according to Reuters.
Leaders in Europe, which has a far deeper economic relationship with Russia than the U.S., were more restrained, ordering investment and development banks on the continent to suspend financing agreements with Moscow, Reuters reported.
Even the U.S. penalties stopped short of the most stringent actions the West has threatened, which would entail fully cutting off key sectors of Russia's economy, but officials said those steps were still on the table if Russia fails to abide by the West's demands to stop support for pro-Russian insurgents who have destabilized swaths of eastern Ukraine, according to Reuters.
"What we are expecting is that the Russian leadership will see once again that its actions in Ukraine have consequences, including a weakening Russian economy and increasing diplomatic isolation," Obama said as he announced the U.S. penalties from the White House, Reuters reported.
Until now, the U.S. and Europe have limited their sanctions on Europe to travel bans and asset freezes aimed at individuals and entities, including some with close ties to Putin, but those measures have done little to change Putin's calculus, with the Pentagon announcing Wednesday that Russian troops were again building up along the border with Ukraine, according to Reuters.
