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              EU Weighs Stricter Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine

   by Reuters

   The European Union is prepared to toughen sanctions against Russia over
   the Ukraine crisis but wants a political deal to end the confrontation,
   its leader said Saturday.

   "We are ready to take very strong and clear measures, but we are
   keeping our doors open to a political solution," European Commission
   President Jose Manuel Barroso said at a news conference in Brussels
   with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

   Barroso said any tightened sanctions would be intended to press Moscow
   toward negotiation and to end its support for separatist rebels in
   eastern Ukraine.

   "It makes no sense to have ... a new Cold War,'' he said, adding that
   it would be "detrimental to all of Europe."

   Poroshenko, echoing EU officials' comments, said he expected a summit
   of EU leaders later Saturday to formally ask the EU's executive
   Commission to draw up new sanctions measures that could be implemented,
   if necessary.

   Barroso noted that his staff already had a broad range of options to
   propose to member states.

   At a news conference with Barroso Saturday, Poroshenko said in English
   that he hoped through the summit "we can demonstrate the real progress
   in the peace negotiations.

   "Why? Because we are too close to the border where from it would be no
   return to the peace plan."

   Fighter jet downed

   Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian military officials said a fighter jet was
   shot down by a Russian missile during fighting between Ukrainian forces
   and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.

   A Ukrainian military statement said the Su-25 was shot down Friday, and
   the pilot managed to eject safely. There was no indication of precisely
   where the incident took place.

   NATO has called on Russia to cease its "illegal military operations" in
   eastern Ukraine, which it says are aimed at destabilizing the country.

   The comments by NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday followed an
   emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss the worsening crisis.

   Rasmussen, referencing satellite images released by his organization
   Thursday, said it was clear that Russian troops and equipment have
   illegally crossed the border into eastern Ukraine. He said the troop
   movement earlier this week was not an isolated incident, but part of a
   pattern over many months to destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/poroshenko-seeks-european-union-support/2433155.html