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France, US warns Russia of "new measures" if Ukraine's crisis continues

PARIS, June 20 (KUNA) -- French and US Presidents, Francois Hollande and Barack Obama respectively, Friday warned Russia of "new measures" if no progress was achieved to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
Hollande and Obama asserted, during a phone call, that Russian President Vladimir Putin should appeal to armed groups to stop their military operations as well as boosting monitoring on Russian-Ukrainian borders, the French presidency said in a statement.
If there is no progress in defusing the crisis in Ukraine as well as de-escalating hostilities, they said, "Russia will face new measures." They did not elaborate on the nature of these measures.
Hollande and Obama, said the statement, welcomed Ukraine's President Petro Porochenko's one-week ceasefire announcement.
Security and stability in eastern Ukraine should be restored, they said, and hostilities should stop as soon as possible.
On Iraq, the French and American leaders called on the imprtance of forming an inclusive government of national unity to bolster stability in the country. (end) amm.bs