President Barack Obama is insisting that the US and Russia are not back to a new Cold War even if the US has increased economic sanctions against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.
The US and the EU, in a carefully coordinated action, late on Tuesday announced targeted new sanctions against Russian banks, energy and defence firms. This was the West’s most serious response yet to what it calls Russian instigation of and continuing support for the separatist uprising in the east and the shootdown of a Malaysian passenger jet on July 17 over eastern Ukraine.
So far, the sanctions are not forcing Putin to back down
Obama, speaking at the White House early yesterday, said the sanctions would have a “greater impact on the Russian economy than we’ve seen so far” in a drive to force Moscow to stop backing the separatists.
Until now, Europe had stopped short of tougher steps against Russia for fear of retaliation. Obama said the new sanctions were a sign of “the waning patience Europe has with nice words from President (Vladimir) Putin that are not matched by actions”.
Senior US officials voiced growing alarm about a Russian troop buildup on the border with eastern Ukraine and a continued supply of heavy weaponry to the separatists.
These are signs that, so far at least, the sanctions are not forcing Putin to back down despite the damage the sanctions are doing to the Russian economy.
“It’s not a new Cold War,” Obama told reporters.
“What it is, is a very specific issue related to Russia’s unwillingness to recognise that Ukraine can chart its own path.”
Still, Obama did not seem inclined to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine, saying the Ukraine military was “better armed than the separatists” and the issue at hand was “how to prevent bloodshed in eastern Ukraine”.
But Republican Senator Marco Rubio, while applauding the new sanctions, voiced hope that Obama, along with European allies, “will also significantly increase our assistance, including military support, to the Ukrainian government”.
“Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine cannot go unanswered, and we need to do much more to make clear that we and the rest of the free world stand with the people of Ukraine at this important moment,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Obviously, we can’t, in the end, make President Putin see more clearly,” Obama said. “Ultimately, that’s something President Putin has to do on his own.”
The Ukraine crisis has set back US relations with Russia to near-Cold War levels. Ties were further strained this week by US charges that Russia had violated the 1988 Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty designed to eliminate ground-launched cruise missiles.