U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has said that the international community will continue to apply sanctions against Russia for violating basic international norms in relation to Ukraine.
“Russia sought to block Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union. That agreement -– locking in Ukraine’s European future –- was nonetheless signed and ratified by many of you in this room. And Russia needs to understand that as long as it continues its current course, the United States, and, God willing, all of Europe, and the international community will continue to impose costs on their violation of basic international norms,” he said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
Biden said that the U.S. did not want “to collapse or weaken the Russian economy.”
“But President Putin has to make a simple, stark choice: Get out of Ukraine or face continued isolation and growing economic costs at home,” he said.
The U.S. vice president went on to say that Russia should be judged “by its deeds, not its words.”
“It’s fully within the power of Moscow to stop the separatists from pursuing the military solution,” he added.
