From RFE/RL's News Desk:
European Council President Donald Tusk says the European Union needs a strategy for dealing with Russia that lasts for years, not months.
"The biggest challenge today is the Russian approach, not only to Ukraine but also to the EU," Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said.
Tusk was speaking at a news conference early on December 19 at the end of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
He called for a strategy that is "tough and responsible" for dealing with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, and resolving the Ukraine crisis.
Tusk said "Russia is our strategic problem, not Ukraine."
Earlier, EU leaders adopted new sanctions as further punishment for Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.
The new measures ban all investment in Crimea and stop European cruise ships from traveling there.
Read more here.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russia says a U.S. law authorizing further sanctions over Moscow's interference in Ukraine threatens to do lasting damage to U.S.-Russian relations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered the message in a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on December 18.
A Foreign Ministry statement says Lavrov told Kerry the Ukraine Freedom Support Act "is capable of undermining the potential for normal interaction between our countries for a long time."
President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on December 18, but said he would not impose the sanctions it authorizes "at this time."
The bill authorizes the administration to provide lethal defensive aid to Ukraine, which is fighting pro-Russian separatist NATO says have direct military support from Moscow, and to impose additional sanctions against the Russian defense and energy sectors.
Kerry said this week that the United States could lift existing sanctions against Russia swiftly if it altered its behavior toward Ukraine.