WAR TENSIONS: Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias visits Ukraine for urgent meeting with Greek community

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will visit Ukraine today Monday (31/1) and specifically the city of Mariupol and Sartana in order to hold meetings with local officials and Greek expat organisations.

The news comes as tensions mount in the Russian-Ukrainian border where Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops with suggestions that President Putin is preparing for an incursion into Ukraine.

The EU have warned President Putin against such a move, while the  U.S. Congress  is close to agreeing on a bill that would impose new economic sanctions on Russia, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said Sunday, promising "serious consequences" for Moscow in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.

Asked by CNN about the work Democrats and Republicans are working to decide on new sanctions against Moscow, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said: "We are one step away from the goal, and I hope we will get there successfully. ".

"Undoubtedly there is an incredible determination on both sides to support Ukraine ... and that there will be serious consequences for Russia if it invades," he said.

"We can not have a new Munich," Menendez said, referring to the 1938 conference and agreements between Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime and Britain and France, which failed to prevent the outbreak of World War II. ".