CNN :
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday again called for Russia to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and warned of further isolation and “costs” if Moscow doesn’t respond to the West’s call for a change of course.
The United States and Europe are united in their support for Ukraine, including the need for economic assistance, and in their efforts to isolate Russia for its intervention in Crimea, Obama said, speaking at an European Union-US summit in Brussels, Belgium.
And he said tougher sanctions would follow if Russia engaged in “deeper incursions” into Ukraine. He left the door open for diplomacy to resolve the situation but said Russia would face increasing isolation and deeper sanctions if it continues to pursue its current course.
“If anyone in the Russian leadership thought the world wouldn’t care about their actions in Ukraine or that they could drive a wedge between the European Union and the United States, they clearly miscalculated,” Obama said.
The United States and Europe recognize that sanctions could have wider global implications, especially for those countries reliant on Russian oil and natural gas, Obama said. But discussions are under way on making it easier to export US natural gas to Europe, as well as on other trade issues, he said. Russia’s intervention in Ukraine’s Crimea region has sparked the biggest East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
And at a later speech in Brussels, Obama said Russia’s annexation of Crimea must be met with condemnation-“not because we’re trying to keep Russia down, but because the principles that have meant so much to Europe and the world must be upheld.”
