THE HAGUE // With no sign of Russia abandoning the Crimean Peninsula, US president Barack Obama said on Tuesday he is concerned that Moscow will move deeper into Ukraine and warned Russian president Vladimir Putin that that would be a bad choice.
The United States and some of its closest allies have also cut Russia out indefinitely from a major coalition of leading industrial nations and cancelled a summer summit Russia was to host in its Olympic Village of Sochi.
Mr Obama stood fast on his insistence that Crimea remains a part of Ukraine, even as the fledgling Ukrainian government in Kiev ordered its troops to pull back from the disputed territory.
“We’re not recognising what is happening in Crimea,” Mr Obama said at his first news conference since Russia moved to annex Crimea after a referendum 10 days ago. Mr Obama rejected “the notion that a referendum sloppily organised over the course of two weeks” would “somehow be a valid process”.
Obama said he didn’t think international recognition of Crimea as part of Russia is “a done deal.” But he also said “it would be dishonest to suggest there is a simple solution to what has already taken place in Crimea”, where Russia troops are in control.
“We also are concerned about further encroachment by Russia into Ukraine,” Mr Obama said.
“I think that will be a bad choice for President Putin to make,” Obama said. “But ultimately he is the president of Russia, and he’s the one who’s going to be making that decision.”
Obama was pursuing efforts to pressure Russia out of its aggressive pose as world leaders met for an international Nuclear Security Summit. But to the east, the Russian annexation of Crimea was beginning to take root and Moscow shrugged off Mr Obama’s drive to leave Mr Putin in the cold.
Mr Obama also said he was concerned about Russia’s troop build-up along the Ukrainian border. “We oppose what appears to be an effort at intimidation,” he said. “But Russia has a right legally to have its troops on its own soil.”
The US president also sought to win backing from other foreign leaders in hopes of ostracising or even shaming Mr Putin into reversing his acquisition of Crimea and backing away from any designs he might have on other Eastern Europe territory.
In a strongly worded joint statement, the US, France, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan denounced a referendum in Crimea to secede from Ukraine and Russia’s ensuing annexation. In so doing, the seven leaders also effectively excluded Russia from what had been a two-decade-old coalition known as the Group of Eight.
“This clear violation of international law is a serious challenge to the rule of law around the world and should be a concern for all nations,” the declaration said.
Still, the international gestures got only a dismissive reaction from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The G8 is an informal club,” he said. “It has no membership tickets, and it can’t purge anyone by definition.”
Mr Obama also raised the issue with Chinese president Xi Jinping. White House aides later commended the Chinese for refusing to side with Russia, a longtime ally, on a UN Security Council vote last week declaring the secession vote illegal. Russia, a Security Council permanent member, voted against it, while China abstained.
Associated Press
