Obama tries to contain Ukraine crisis in Europe trip, as Kyiv fears new attack

 

President Obama on Monday began a high-stakes tour through Europe where he’s seeking to assure jittery allies and contain the volatile Ukraine crisis, as officials in Kyiv voiced fears that Vladimir Putin could be preparing a new attack on the heels of his Crimea victory. 

The president arrived at The Hague, in the Netherlands, for a kick-off two-day summit on nuclear security. He’ll meet later in the day with other leaders of the G7 nations — Russia was excluded from the meeting. 

Though the trip was previously planned, Russia’s aggression in Crimea will dominate, at least on the sidelines of the summit. 

“We’re united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far,” Obama said after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. 

Putin’s government moved with startling swiftness in annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula last week following a referendum which the U.S. and other western governments decried as illegitimate. The U.S. and European Union have moved forward with modest sanctions, largely focused on individuals, but those efforts have not tempered the Russian government’s advances. 

Pro-Russian forces reportedly overran a third Ukrainian military base in the Black Sea peninsula Monday. 

And according to AFP, Ukrainian leaders voiced concern that Putin could move beyond Crimea. 

“The aim of Putin is not Crimea but all of Ukraine… His troops massed at the border are ready to attack at any moment,” National Security and Defence Council chief Andriy Parubiy reportedly told a crowd in Kyiv. 

Meanwhile, Obama told a Dutch newspaper that the United States does not see the ongoing crisis in Crimea and Ukraine as a “zero-sum game” between Washington and Moscow. 

In the interview, published in Monday’s edition of de Volkskrant, Obama said, “The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That’s the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War.” 

Officially, nuclear terrorism is the main topic for world leaders at the summit — the third since Obama launched the series in 2009. It opened with Japan announcing it would turn over to the U.S. more than 700 pounds of weapons great plutonium and a supply of highly-enriched uranium, a victory for Obama’s efforts to secure nuclear materials around the world.  

But in another sign of how the Ukraine crisis was overshadowing diplomacy on other fronts, Putin declined to attend, sending his foreign minister instead. 

Rutte said Russia’s attempts to annex Crimea are “a flagrant breach” of international law. “The presence of so many international leaders in the Netherlands this week presents an important opportunity for the international community to discuss this subject as well as other pressing issues that affect our common interest,” Rutte said. 

Obama’s also to meet Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit. On Tuesday, Obama has planned a joint meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a session preceded by a sitdown with Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the richest emirate in the United Arab Emirates federation. 

The two-day nuclear summit was the long-scheduled draw for Obama’s visit to The Netherlands, but the headline event Monday is a Ukraine-focused, hurriedly scheduled meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized economies — the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. 

Discussion among Obama and his G-7 counterparts will center on economic aid to Ukraine, while at the same time seeking to segregate Putin from the exclusive group, which Russia usually joins in Group of Eight meetings. 

More broadly, the Ukraine crisis will test Obama’s ability to forge a unified and forceful stance against Russia from European leaders who are alarmed by Putin’s moves but whose economies are dependent on Russian energy and trade. 

In the interview, Obama conceded that the sanctions he has threatened against Russian economic sectors could have worldwide impacts. 

But, he added: “If Russia continues to escalate the situation, we need to be prepared to impose a greater cost.” 

Still, European sanctions against Russia have not matched those announced by Obama. 

Meanwhile, China has been wary of Obama’s efforts to increase U.S. influence in the Asia Pacific region. The U.S. has also called for restraint in China’s maritime territorial disputes with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors. 

China, a frequent Russian ally, abstained a week ago from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Crimea’s secession referendum illegal. With Russia vetoing the measure and the 13 other council members voting in favor, China’s abstention served to isolate Moscow internationally. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.