Seoul, Feb 24 (TIWN) South Korea said on Thursday that it will join a move to sanction Russia if the latter carries out a full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world is facing ``the biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years.'' He called Russia's declaration of the ``so-called `independence''' of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine a violation of its territorial integrity and accused Moscow of ``the perversion of the concept of peacekeeping.'' He urged the international community to rally ``to save the people of Ukraine and beyond from the scourge of war'' without further bloodshed. In Washington, lawmakers from both parties in Congress displayed a largely unified front backing an independent Ukraine and vowing continued U.S. support, even as some pushed for swifter and even more severe sanctions on Russia. On Tuesday, members of Russia's upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Putin to use military force outside the country _ effectively formalizing a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions, where an eight-year conflict has killed nearly 14,000 people