Sanction grip on Russia to further tighten - Kuleba

Diplomacy and defense chiefs of Ukraine and the United States at a meeting in Warsaw coordinated further sanctions against Russia, as well as steps that would cut off ways for Russia to circumvent them.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a Facebook video shot in Warsaw, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Together with my colleagues, Mr. (Antony - ed.) Blinken, Mr. Oleksiy Reznikov and Mr. (Lloyd - ed.) Austin, I discussed concrete next steps in developing our cooperation. First, of course, we talked sanctions. The United States recently adopted new sanctions, but we are already working on the next ones," said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy.

In this context, Kuleba said that he raised the issue of closing American and European ports to Russian vessels and cargo, hitting individual sanctions not only on Russian oligarchs and Putin's inner circle, but also on all Russian political figures. Ways to "encourage" some European nations that are now trying to evade new tough sanctions were also discussed, according to Kuleba.

"We have agreed on how and with which countries we will work so that they don’t offer a space for Russia to circumvent sanctions. This is very important - not just to apply sanctions, but also to cut off ways for Russia to evade them. Today, we have coordinated our actions in this regard. I can confidently say now that Russia has fallen into the sanctions environment, say, a cauldron of sanctions boiler, and this grip will be further tightening in the coming days, weeks, and months," Kuleba said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov held 2+2 talks in Warsaw with U.S. counterparts Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin.

U.S. President Joe Biden also joined the meeting.