The United States will impose sanctions on Russia at a time, not in stages, one senior U.S. administration official said.
"And to repeat, we are prepared to implement sanctions with massive consequences that were not considered in 2014. That means the gradualism of the past is out. This time we'll start at the top of the escalation ladder and stay there," said the official.
He added that while the actions of the U.S. and the EU may not be identical, they are unified in their intention to impose massive consequences that would deliver a severe and immediate blow to Russia and over time make its economy even more brittle and undercut Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aspirations to exert influence on the world stage.
