DHAKA: US president Barack Obama says it was a ‘great honour’ to meet Pope Francis for the first time during a European tour dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.

He flew into Rome after three days of talks with world leaders in the Netherlands and Brussels.

Tensions are high following Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

On Wednesday Obama said the US and the EU were considering deeper sanctions against Moscow if there were any further incursions.

Pro-Russian forces seized Crimea, which has a Russian-speaking majority, this month.

Moscow annexed the peninsula after it declared independence following a referendum that Ukraine and its Western allies consider illegal.

BDST: 1738 HRS, MAR 27, 2014