LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Monday that the European Union was ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia after separatists downed a Malaysia Airlines plane with the loss of 298 lives.
"Russia needs to know that action will follow if there isn't a radical change in the way they behave," Cameron said. "The EU will be ready to take further steps."
Cameron, who spoke by telephone to French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, said sanctions could hit advanced industrial goods that might have dual uses for defence purposes. He gave no further details.
Cameron said President Putin should ensure Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine gave full access to the site where the plane hit the ground but also bluntly told the Kremlin to stop supplying weapons to the rebels.
He added in a broadcast TV clip: "We need no more weapons crossing the border, no more troops crossing the border, no more support for the separatists - respect for the Ukrainian territorial integrity, that is what is required and that is what must be pushed for."
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison)