West preps more sanctions if Russia launches full-scale Ukraine invasion

Western nations and Japan punished Russia with new sanctions for ordering troops into rebel regions of eastern Ukraine and threatened to go further if Moscow launched an all-out invasion on Ukraine.

Western nations and Japan on Tuesday punished Russia with new sanctions for ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine and threatened to go further if Moscow launched an all-out invasion of its neighbour.

The United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan announced plans to target banks and elites while Germany halted a major gas pipeline project from Russia in one of the worst security crises in Europe in decades.

Bitter about Ukraine's long-term goal to join NATO and claiming it as historic Russian land, Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed more than 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders,