US president Barack Obama articulated his clearest vision yet of what might trigger deeper economic sanctions from the West against Russia, warning that further incursion into Ukraine would elicit “additional sanctions” and “additional costs”.
Asked if Crimea was now effectively lost to Russia, the US president said that while it was “not a done deal”, “the facts on the ground” were that the Russian military controls Crimea. “I think it would be dishonest to suggest there is a simple solution to resolving what has already taken place in Crimea.”
A de-escalation of tensions would also involve “a moving back of Russian troops from Ukraine’s borders”, the US president said, as well as rapidly organised elections.
Sectoral sanctions
Mr Obama was speaking a day after leaders of the G7 group of nations pledged to impose "coordinated sectoral sanctions" on Russia should it continue to escalate the situation in Ukraine. He confirmed that work was now under way to examine the impact of sanctions, which would include areas such as energy, finance, arms sales and trades.
“Some of these particular sanctions would hurt some countries more than others [...] but all of us understand that we would have to stand up for core principles, ” the US president said, adding that he had been encouraged by the “firmness and willingness” of all economies to consider sanctions, despite the disruption it could cause.
Asked whether there was concern among EU countries about the impact of deeper sanctions, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the sanctions would be designed in such a way that “will have maximum impact on the Russian economy”, and not the other way round.
Mr Rutte and Mr Obama were speaking at the end of a two-day summit on nuclear security attended by representatives of more than 50 countries, but dominated by the crisis in Ukraine which prompted the US president to convene an emergency meeting of G7 leaders.
Defended response
Mr Obama defended his administration's handling of the Ukraine crisis and its response to various recent foreign policy crises. "There are going to be moments where military action is appropriate, sometimes when that it is not in the national security interests of our [country] or our international partners," he told journalists, adding that the US had to put "all elements" of its power behind finding solutions.
“Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbours not out of strength but out of weakness,” he said. “We don’t need to invade [our neighbours] in order to have a strong, co-operative relationship with them.”
The US president also faced questions about the National Security Agency (NSA) spying scandal that has challenged the US’ traditionally close relations with European countries including Germany and the Netherlands. The spying scandal had been an “irritant” in the long-standing relationship between the US and Europe, but does not define relations between those countries, he said.
Privacy
Mr Obama said he could assure Dutch, German and US citizens their privacy had not been compromised. "If you were just an ordinary citizen in any of these counties your privacy...has not been invaded." He said the US had pledged to treat the privacy concerns of non-US people as seriously as those of US citizens, and insisted data collection would only be pursued if there was a narrow purpose to it. Nonetheless, the US was "very proud of its record in working with countries around the world" on fighting terrorism, he said, noting intelligence plays a critical role in that process.
“As technology has evolved the guidelines and structures have not kept pace with these advances in technology.”
