BRUSSELS — Hoping that diplomacy can still calm an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine and avert a rift with the United States over whether to send arms to Ukraine, European foreign ministers agreed on Monday to postpone imposing a new round of sanctions against Russia in an effort to nudge forward talks with Moscow.
The ministers decided not to take action until after a possible meeting later this week among the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told reporters on Monday after a morning of talks that the ministers had not rescinded an earlier decision to add more individuals to the sanctions list, with asset freezes and bans on travel. But he said the decision would not be put into effect this week as originally planned.
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More hawkish countries, notably Britain, have argued against a pause in sanctions. “Until we see Russia complying on the ground, we can’t relieve the pressure,” the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said on Monday. “We need not just words but deeds on the ground.”
Alison Smale and Melissa Eddy contributed reporting from Berlin.
