The United States and its allies want to “increase the pressure on the Kremlin” with new sanctions After a videoconference meeting between the American president, Joe Biden, and the main allies of the United States about the war in Ukraine, “ a broad consensus on the need to increase the pressure on the Kremlin, in particular through the adoption of new sanctions”, was found, declared the Italian government, Tuesday evening. The allies also agreed on the need “to increase the international isolation of Moscow,” the government said in a statement. The Italian announcement was later confirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a tweet: “We will again tighten our sanctions against Russia. The videoconference brought together French leaders Emmanuel Macron, British Boris Johnson, German Olaf Scholz, Romanian Klaus Iohannis, Polish Andrzej Duda, Italian Mario Draghi, Canadian Justin Trudeau and Japanese Fumio Kishida. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also took part in the call, as did Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. In a statement, Mr. Stoltenberg also confirmed that the participants had agreed “on the importance of making Moscow pay even more” for its invasion of Ukraine. According to the French presidency, Westerners are determined to “strengthen their support for Ukraine in every way in the face of Russian aggression”, in particular through “new sanctions against Russia if it persists in the war”. They also agreed on “the need to convince [leurs] partners, among countries outside the G7 and the EU, of the fact that this crisis threatens international peace and security and is not only a regional crisis or one of interest only to Westerners”, explained the Elysée , with particular reference to China. For her part, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the participants discussed “their coordinated efforts to continue to inflict significant economic costs so that Russia is held accountable” for its actions. In addition, “the common commitment to diversify energy sources, thereby reducing dependence on Russian supplies has been reaffirmed”, according to the Italian government statement.