US News and World Report quotes Eurasia Center Director John Herbst on the independence referendum held in eastern Ukraine:
“If Mr. Putin upends the Ukrainian presidential elections at the end of the month, and [German] Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and [French] President [Francois] Hollande follow through on their statements from last week, there will be much larger sanctions against Russia which will have some impact on European economies,” says John Herbst, director of the Washington-based Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. “And if western European economies slow down in growth, it will also have some impact on the world economy.”
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“She would not want to see additional brakes placed on Europe’s fragile recovery from the Great Recession,” says Herbst of Lagarde’s concern.