France's foreign minister told Russia on Thursday that the European Union would hold President Vladimir Putin and Russian authorities directly responsible if hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny died and it would impose new sanctions.
Speaking to France 2 television, Jean-Yves Le Drian also said he did not believe Russia wanted to launch a military operation in eastern Ukraine despite massing thousands of troops on the border.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Gareth Jones)
