The US and EU have a contingency plan in the event of full-scale military invasion of Russia in Ukraine, the State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Daniel Fried told VOA.
"If the war begins to unfold again, we have the option of sanctions gain. We discussed it with Europe, we know what we do in this case ... But I did not really want to go into details of the hypothetical scenario that can happen. If the worst happens - I mean a full-scale invasion of Ukraine - we have a contingency plan,", the official said as quoted by the Ukrainian service of the VOA.
According to Fried, the US plan has been discussed with Germany, France, Poland and the UK.
"Ukraine is still occupied by Russian separatists, and I want to tell you that it would be even worse if there were no sanctions at all, be sure of it. Do you think Russia would have not attacked Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk or Slavyansk?" Fried said.
Daniel Fried assumed his position as the State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy on January 28, 2013.
On 18 August, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said he did not rule out a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and warned of the possibility of introduction of martial law in this case.