The European Union and the United States announced further sanctions against Russia on Tuesday targeting its energy, banking and defense sectors, according to The Associated Press.
The new sanctions are the strongest international action yet over Moscow's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, the AP reported.
The measures mark the start of a new phase in the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War, which worsened dramatically after the downing of Malaysian flight MH17 over rebel-held territory on July 17 by what Western countries say was a Russian-supplied missile, according to the AP.
"If Russia continues on this current path, the costs on Russia will continue to grow," President Barack Obama said in Washington, the AP reported. "Russia's actions in Ukraine and the sanctions that we've already imposed have made a weak Russian economy even weaker," he added.
In Brussels, diplomats said ambassadors from the 28-member European bloc agreed to restrictions on trade of equipment for the oil and defense sectors, and "dual use" technology with both defense and civilian purposes, according to the AP.
Russia's state run banks would be barred from raising funds in European capital markets with the measures would be reviewed in three months, the AP reported.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been reluctant to step up sanctions before the crash because of her country's trade links with Russia, said the latest EU measures were "unavoidable," according to the AP.
Europe had imposed sanctions only on individuals and organizations accused of direct involvement in threatening Ukraine until now and had shied away from wider "sectoral sanctions" designed to damage its biggest energy supplier, the AP reported.
The new sanctions were placed in hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will back down from a months-long campaign to seize territory and disrupt Ukraine, whose pro-Moscow leader was toppled in February, but Putin has shown no sign of backing down, according to the AP.
Western countries say the Kremlin has stepped up support for separatists by sending them more heavy weaponry, the AP reported. Moscow denies it is arming the rebels, protestations that are ridiculed in the West.
