US pushes sharp message on Russian 'aggression' as Putin tours Europe
As Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Europe to share his view of the Ukraine conflict,聽US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power countered with a sharp message, accusing Russia of being the aggressor in Ukraine, and saying in a tweet to the embattled country that the 鈥淯S stands w/you as you fight on two fronts.鈥�
Ambassador Power was speaking of Ukraine鈥檚 fight in the east against Russian-backed rebel forces and of the effort in Kiev to build 鈥渁n open, responsive govt.鈥�
Ms. Power is in Kiev to affirm support for Ukraine and to meet with聽senior government officials, parliamentarians, monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and students. 聽Her unambiguous statements appear designed to remind the court of world opinion of 鈥淩ussia鈥檚 鈥� continuing occupation of Crimea鈥�
President Putin continues to deny that Russia plays a supporting role in the 14 months of conflict between Kiev forces and armed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Power鈥檚 direct statements come as Vladimir Putin is in Europe after a meeting of G-7 countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States), and appears to be testing the strength of EU solidarity on sanctions against Russia.聽
Mr. Putin yesterday met Pope Francis, spending 50 minutes in discussions that included a request by the Roman Catholic pontiff that Putin be 鈥渟incere鈥� about peace. He also met with the controversial but popular former leader of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi.
Before Putin sat down with the pope at Vatican City yesterday,聽聽the US ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth Hackett, urged Pope Francis to take a more pointed stand in calling out Russian aggression.
"We think they could say something more about concern of territorial integrity, those types of issues," Hackett told reporters. "It does seem that Russia is supporting the insurgents. And it does seem that there are Russian troops inside Ukraine.鈥�
Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi said the Roman Catholic leader stressed the 鈥渘eed to commit oneself in a sincere and great effort to achieve peace," and that the two men "agreed on the importance of reconstructing a climate of dialogue and 鈥� implementing the Minsk accords."聽The Vatican so far has stayed away from fingering Moscow as a protagonist in the Ukraine conflict聽out of concern for the Catholic minority in Russia, analysts say.聽
The US remains concerned that Mr. Putin will make headway in weakening the current sanctions regime against Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea.聽The Moscow Times today states that聽Putin鈥檚 European trip is designed to
The Kremlin seems to have attempted to exploit cracks in the EU鈥檚 position, flirting with European governments and political parties that have expressed sympathy toward Russia. Putin hosted Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a staunch opponent to EU sanctions against Russia, in the Kremlin in April. The president also met with Euroskeptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest to discuss energy issues in March.
Al Jazeera today ran a news feature on Putin's efforts in Europe to label the entire Ukraine conflict as a plot by the US to maintain control of the world order. The story quotes from recent Putin press conferences in Italy:聽
Putin bluntly accused the CIA and the U.S. State Department as the culprits in wrecking the Feb. 21 [Minsk 2] agreement and using Germany, France and Poland as props.聽On [Putin's] read, the U.S. is using Ukraine鈥檚 tragedy to frighten Europe.聽Why?聽Because the U.S. believes it can maintain supremacy over Europe if Russia is cast as the villain.
鈥淟et鈥檚 suppose that the聽United States would like to聽maintain its leadership in聽the聽Atlantic community,鈥� Putin proposed. 鈥淚t needs an聽external threat, an聽external enemy to聽ensure this leadership. Iran is clearly not enough. This threat is not very scary or聽big enough. Who can be frightening? And聽then suddenly this crisis unfolds in聽Ukraine. Russia is forced to聽respond.鈥澛�
[Correction: An earlier version of this story repeated press reports that Power would open a UN office to implement the Minsk agreement; in fact the office is still in a planning stage.]聽
