The US will discuss with its EU allies imposing new sanctions against Moscow if pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine don’t stop the fighting, a State Department official has said.

The official, accompanying Secretary of State John Kerry to a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, said on Tuesday the US would “be having those conversations about where we go next, particularly in response to the continued supply of heavy weapons coming across the border (from Russia)."

Moscow has repeatedly denied Western claims it is providing military support to pro-Russian rebels fighting the Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.

Also on Tuesday, Kerry said Western sanctions have not halted Russia's support for the rebels but have hurt the country, weakening its currency and threatening to push its economy into recession next year.

Russia’s Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Vedev has said the country’s economy would shrink by 0.8% in 2015 rather than expand by 1.2% as projected previously, hit by Western sanction and the slump in oil prices.

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