Czech president:Further Russian expansion into Ukraine would merit toughest measures

The EU should impose the toughest possible sanctions against Russia should it decide to widen its territorial expansion to eastern Ukraine, President Miloš Zeman said in an interview for Czech Radio on Sunday. Mr. Zeman said that while it was clear that Ukraine had lost Crimea to Russia, and the Western powers would have to reconcile themselves to that, he stressed that any further Russian attempt to expand to eastern Ukraine could be extremely dangerous and would merit the toughest sanctions by the EU, even NATO’s military presence in Ukraine. On the other hand the president said that Ukraine’s federalization along the model of Germany or Switzerland would not necessarily be problematic since a measure of decentralization and autonomy could help calm the situation.