Western leaders ready for more sanctions on Russia if crisis escalates - Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - Western leaders agreed on Tuesday that they would be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia over Ukraine if there was a further escalation in the crisis, a German government spokesman said. The statement from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman came after leaders of Germany, France, Britain, the United States, and Italy, as well as the head of the European Council, discussed the Ukraine crisis in a video conference. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the leaders had stressed that the implementation of the Minsk agreement and existing sanctions against Russia were closely linked. "This means the sanctions can only be lifted if the Minsk agreement is fully implemented. At the same time, they confirmed they were ready to apply further sanctions in the case of a renewed escalation," Seibert said. (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Mark Heinrich)