The United States is ready to impose additional sanctions on Russia if it continues to escalate the situation in Ukraine, President Barack Obama has said.

"If Russia continues to escalate the situation, we need to be prepared to impose a greater cost," he said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, which was cited by the Associated Press on Monday.

Obama said that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to "understand the economic and political consequences of his actions in Ukraine."

He said he does not view Europe as a battleground between the East and the West.

"That's the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War," Obama said.

"On the contrary, it's important that Ukraine have good relations with the United States, Russia, and Europe," he said.

The U.S. president will attend a nuclear security summit in The Hague on Monday and a meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven states, during which the Ukrainian issue will be on the agenda.