Russia shrugs off its exclusion from G8 group of leading industrial countries over Crimea crisis
US president insists region remains part of Ukraine even as Kiev withdraws all its troops from the area and sacks its defence minister
US President Barack Obama said yesterday he is concerned that Moscow will move deeper into Ukraine and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that that would be a bad choice.
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 and sacked the country's defence minister.
"We're not recognising what is happening in Crimea," Obama said at his first news conference since Russia moved to annexe Crimea after a referendum 10 days ago. Obama rejected "the notion that a referendum sloppily organised over the course of two weeks" would "somehow be a valid process".
"We also are concerned about further encroachment by Russia into Ukraine," Obama said at a joint news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Obama noted Western sanctions and said that Putin "just has to understand there is a choice to be made here".
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 taking root and Moscow shrugged off Obama's drive to leave Putin in the cold.
In a strongly worded joint statement, the United States, France, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan denounced the referendum vote 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.