Kremlin warns new Ukraine leader against calls for more sanctions

The Kremlin on Tuesday warned Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelensky against asking Washington for more sanctions against Russia, suggesting it would not help his efforts to end the war in the east.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman spoke after US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in Kiev earlier in the day that Washington intends to impose sanctions on companies involved in the Moscow-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project.

On Monday, Zelensky was sworn in as Ukraine's president and said his priority was ending the conflict with Russia-backed insurgents in the east, which has claimed some 13,000 lives since 2014.

In a meeting with US officials including Perry on Monday, Zelensky called on Washington to support Ukraine and introduce more sanctions against Moscow.

"This is the rhetoric that will not help Ukraine to sort out the problem of the southeast," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, referring to the separatist conflict in the ex-Soviet country's industrial east.

Zelensky had told the US delegation that also included US Senator Ron Johnson that Washington should keep "increasing sanctions" against Moscow.

"We will not be able to overcome Russian aggression in Donbass and Crimea alone," Zelensky was quoted as saying by his office in reference to the eastern regions and Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.

Peskov said Ukraine should stick to the Western-brokered peace treaty -- which is largely moribund -- if it wanted to settle the conflict.

"The US cannot fulfil a list (of requirements) of the Minsk agreements. Russia cannot fulfil them either," he said.

"It is Kiev which can and must fulfil them."