World leaders hammered out a message for absent Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a summit in Brussels on Wednesday after US President Barack Obama condemned Moscow's "dark tactics" in Ukraine. The worst East-West crisis in decades dominated the meeting of the Group of Seven rich nations, a summit from which Putin was excluded following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March.
Obama drove home a hawkish warning before his arrival in Belgium, meeting Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko in Poland on Wednesday and promising years of US support for ex-communist Nato states. "How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th century to define this new century?" Obama asked in Warsaw in a speech marking 25 years of Polish democracy after the Cold War.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel announced in Brussels a review of "the US force presence in Europe" amid the Ukraine crisis, in a sign that Washington is not backing down. But with several western leaders set to meet Putin at D-Day commemorations in France later this week, the G7 leaders meeting for a dinner on Wednesday looked set to co-ordinate a softer message for the Russian leader.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy said while wider sanctions were still under preparation, there were "some diplomatic possibilities to see if Russia is ready to engage more". Even as hundreds of Ukrainian rebels battled government forces Wednesday, European diplomats stressed there was a "window of opportunity" after the relatively smooth election of chocolate tycoon Poroshenko on May 25. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated a warning that Russia could face stepped-up sanctions if it does not stop destabilisation in eastern Ukraine.
"Sanctions remain on the table," Merkel said on arrival. In France later this week, Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron will all hold talks with the Russian leader, reflecting their nations' greater economic exposure to Russian economic power than Washington's.
But while Obama will come face-to-face with Putin on Friday in France, Washington remains to be convinced. Putin said he could not understand why Obama, who has spent months trying to isolate him over Ukraine, would not hold a formal meeting with him during 70th anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings in World War II. "It is his choice, I am ready for dialogue," Putin said in an interview with French broadcasters Europe 1 and TF1 conducted at his dacha in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Russian leader accused the United States of hypocrisy in its "aggressive" attempts to punish Russia over Ukraine. "We have almost no military forces abroad yet look: everywhere in the world there are American military bases, American troops thousands of kilometres from their borders. "They interfere in the interior affairs of this or that country. So it is difficult to accuse us of abuses." Obama met Poroshenko days before his inauguration and declared himself "deeply impressed" by the businessman Ukrainians chose on May 25 to lead them back from a political and economic precipice. "The United States is absolutely committed to standing behind the Ukrainian people not just in the coming days, weeks, but in the coming years," Obama told reporters.
In Ukraine, three government soldiers were injured in a massive all-night attack carried out by hundreds of pro-Russian insurgents armed with rocket launchers and mortars in the nation's restive east, authorities in Kiev said Wednesday. Nato defence ministers Tuesday agreed a series of steps to bolster protection in eastern Europe after the Ukraine crisis, but insisted they were acting within the limits of a key post-Cold War treaty with Moscow.
Obama meanwhile proposed a one-billion-dollar fund to finance new US air, naval and troop rotations through Eastern Europe. He also renewed US guarantees of security for former Warsaw pact states and reaffirmed Nato's commitment to defend of any state that was attacked. "Poland will never stand alone," Obama said, to cheers from a big crowd in Warsaw's Town Square. "Estonia will never stand alone. Latvia will never stand alone. Lithuania will never stand alone. Romania will never stand alone."
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