World press on Ukrainian crisis (September 12 2014)

The New York Times published an article by James Kanter and David Herszenhorn headlined "U.S. and Europe Back New Economic Sanctions Against Russia" devoted to the situation surrounding the ongoing Ukrainian crisis.

"The United States and Europe agreed on Thursday to place additional economic sanctions on Russia over its role in promoting separatist warfare in eastern Ukraine despite a fragile new ceasefire that went into effect last week," the article begins.

"European leaders overcame resistance among some of their colleagues who wanted to continue delaying additional measures to see if the shaky truce, negotiated in Minsk, Belarus, holds. President Obama then followed suit shortly afterward by announcing that he would match the new European moves when they take effect on Friday," the author write.

“We are watching closely developments since the announcement of the cease-fire and agreement in Minsk, but we have yet to see conclusive evidence that Russia has ceased its efforts to destabilize Ukraine,” President Obama is quoted by the newspaper as saying. “If Russia fully implements its commitments, these sanctions can be rolled back. If instead Russia continues its aggressive actions and violations of international law, the costs will continue to rise,” Obama said.

"The United States and Europe will both further tighten restrictions first imposed in July on the export of energy technology that would help Russia develop its Arctic, deep sea and shale oil reserves, officials said. Europe will ban 24 more Russian officials from traveling to its member states and freeze any assets held there, according to a diplomat familiar with the plan," the article reads.

According to the authors, the United States has generally been more aggressive than Europe in seeking to penalize Russia for its role in Ukraine. "European nations have tended to move more guardedly, in part because they have closer economic ties to Russia and European businesses have more to lose in the event of retaliation by Moscow," the article reads.