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| The US president, Barack Obama, in The Hague at the nuclear summit. |
President Barack Obama has described Russia as no more than a "regional power" whose actions in Ukraine are an expression of weakness rather than strength, as he restated the threat from the G7 western allies and Japan that they would inflict much broader sanctions if Vladimir Putin went beyond annexation of Crimea and moved troops into eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at the end of a summit on nuclear security in The Hague, Obama rejected the suggestion made by Mitt Romney – his Republican challenger in the last president election – that Russia was the United States' principal geopolitical foe. The president said he was considerably more concerned about the threat of a terrorist nuclear bomb attack on New York.
He said that the US was committed to the defence of its Nato allies but that for non-member states along Russia's borders, Washington and the rest of the international community would use non-military pressure to counter Russian encroachment. Read on and comment » | Julian Borger in The Hague | Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Mitt Romney Calls Barack Obama “Naïve” on Russia »
Obama warns Putin that the US is the most powerful nation in the world. Russia is a regional power and would struggle to compete with the US’s global influence. Other countries look to America for a lead in global crises »
