(VOVworld) – The US and Germany have warned of more tough sanctions on Russia unless Moscow deescalates the situation in Ukraine before elections later this month.

US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty

A joint statement was released after a meeting in the White House between US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday. Obama said the US will not have another choice but move forward with additional and more severe sanctions in case Russia impedes the presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25^th. Meanwhile, Merkel said “further sanctions will be unavoidable” if it's not possible to stabilize the situation in Ukraine and facilitate conditions for the upcoming election.

The same day, the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting at the request of Russia’s permanent mission at the UN to discuss the crackdown in Ukraine focusing on the military operation launched by the Ukrainian caretaker government in the eastern city of Slavyansk.