March 26, 2014 -- Updated 1716 GMT (0116 HKT)
The rapidly unfolding crisis in Ukraine is set to be the focus of talks
between U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders Wednesday
in Brussels, Belgium. FULL STORY
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VIDEO
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IMF AID HAS CONDITIONS
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IMF AID HAS CONDITIONS
Obama: U.S. and Europe united over Ukraine crisis
March 26, 2014 -- Updated 1959 GMT (0359 HKT)
Obama: Russia stands alone
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Obama: Russia "miscalculated" on Ukraine if it thought world wouldn't care
- Obama warns Russia that tougher sanctions are possible over Ukraine crisis
- The crisis in Ukraine is expected to dominate the U.S.-EU summit
- Obama will also meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
The United States and
Europe are united in their support for Ukraine, including the need for
economic assistance, and in their efforts to isolate Russia for its
intervention in Crimea, Obama said, speaking at an European Union-U.S.
summit in Brussels, Belgium.
And he said tougher sanctions would follow if Russia engaged in "deeper incursions" into Ukraine.
The United States and
Europe recognize that sanctions could have wider global implications,
especially for those countries reliant on Russian oil and natural gas,
he said.
But discussions are under
way on making it easier to export U.S. natural gas to Europe, he said,
as well as on other trade issues.
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Russia's intervention in Ukraine's Crimea region has sparked the biggest East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
Meanwhile, Moscow's
massing of troops near Ukraine's eastern borders has worried the interim
government in Kiev -- as well as caused ripples of concern in other
former Soviet republics that now belong to the EU and NATO.
Obama warned Russia that
it faces a united front in the West. "If anyone in the Russian
leadership thought the world wouldn't care about their actions in
Ukraine or that they could drive a wedge between the European Union and
the United States, they clearly miscalculated," he said.
He left the door open to
diplomacy to resolve the situation, but said Russia would face
increasing isolation and deeper sanctions if it continues to pursue its
current course.
'Serious consequences'
Speaking alongside Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy also struck a note of unity, saying Europe and the United States "have a strong and coordinated position" on Ukraine.
Russia's annexation of Crimea is "a disgrace in the 21st century, and we will not recognize it," he said.
Europe also stands by
Georgia and Moldova, Van Rompuy said, and has brought forward the
signing of accession documents with them to June, bringing the prospect
of closer ties to Europe.
NATO's top commander has
voiced worries Moscow's forces could roll into Moldova's separatist
region Transnistria on the opposite side of Ukraine, and Russia fought a
brief war with the former Soviet republic of Georgia about five years
ago.
Jose Manuel Barroso,
president of the European Commission, said the United States and EU "are
working together to make sure that actions that are unacceptable will
bear serious consequences."
Obama will also meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen while in Brussels.
In his remarks
beforehand, Obama said NATO was a cornerstone of both U.S. and European
security -- and that the crisis in Ukraine was a reminder of why the
alliance is so important.
He also called on those
NATO member states that have been cutting military spending to ensure
they can still live up to their responsibility to provide collective
defense. "Everybody has to chip in," he said.
At a later speech in
Brussels, Obama said Russia's annexation of Crimea must be met with
condemnation, "not because we're trying to keep Russia down, but because
the principles that have meant so much to Europe and the world must be
upheld."
Ukraine: We need support
Russia insists its
actions are legitimate and denies having used its armed forces in
Crimea, saying the troops that took control of key installations there
were local "self-defense" forces.
Russia also insists the
government in Kiev is illegitimate because ousted President Viktor
Yanukovych, a close ally of Moscow's, was forced out in an armed coup.
Yanukovych's ouster followed months of street protests sparked by his
decision to ditch an EU trade deal in favor of closer ties to Russia.
In an interview Tuesday
with PBS, acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine is
struggling to maintain a fighting capability after it was "deliberately
dismantled" under Yanukovych.
"What we need is support
from the international community. We need technology and military
support to overhaul the Ukrainian military and modernize -- to be ready
not just to fight, but to be ready to win," Yatsenyuk said.
With an estimated 30,000
Russian troops now positioned near Ukraine's eastern border, Yatsenyuk
repeated his pledge to defend Ukrainian territory.
His government ceded
Crimea without a shot to demonstrate to the world that Russia was the
aggressor, he said -- but if Moscow moves against another portion of
Ukraine, the duty of all Ukrainians is "to protect our country," he
said. "We will fight."
Speaking about the
buildup of Russian force, a spokesman for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry
told CNN there was a concentration of military equipment near Churovichi
in Russia's Klimovskiy District, some 10 miles from the border.
He cited intelligence reports of camps, communication systems and medical facilities.
Moscow tightens grip
The United States and EU are seeking to exert pressure on Russia through a combination of sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
An EU-Russia summit has
been canceled, and the G7 group of leading industrialized countries has
excluded Russia from what was the G8. The G7 will meet in June in
Brussels, instead of attending a planned G8 summit in the Russian city
of Sochi.
But Moscow has so far
doggedly pursued its own course, even as Western leaders have denounced
its actions as violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and a breach of
international law.
Russia has cited the
need to protect ethnic Russians within Ukraine from ultra-nationalists
and "fascists" as a justification for intervention on Ukrainian soil.
Hundreds of supporters
and paramilitary militia members came out into the streets of Ukraine's
western city of Rivne on Wednesday as a funeral was held for a prominent
far-right activist, Oleksandr Muzychko, better known as Sashko Biliy.
He was killed late
Monday in what the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said was a shootout with
police in Rivne. Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Doniy, whose constituency
is in Rivne, gave a different version of events, saying the activist was
dragged into a car and then shot.
Muzychko, a leader of
Right Sector, a far-right group prominent in the recent anti-government
protests, was wanted "for his criminal background and illegal carrying
of weapons," the ministry said.
Amid the heightened
tensions, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused the
Ukrainian border service of refusing to let air crew off Aeroflot jets
for rest periods after landing in Ukraine. Aeroflot is the Russian
national carrier.
This "breaks the international acts in compliance with flight safety requirements," the ministry said in an online statement.
Crimea, Russia ties
Crimea belonged to
Russia until 1954, when it was given to Ukraine, which was then part of
the Soviet Union. The region has a majority ethnic Russian population
and other historic ties to Russia.
A large majority of its
population voted in favor of joining Russia in a controversial
referendum 10 days ago. Russian lawmakers in turn swiftly voted to
absorb the Black Sea peninsula, where Russia has a major naval base,
into the Russian Federation, and President Vladimir Putin signed the
treaty into law.
In another step to
cement the process, the vice speaker of the Crimean parliament, Sergei
Tsekov, was made a senator in Russia's upper house Wednesday, Russia's
state-run ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
At the same time, Kiev
has ordered the withdrawal of Ukrainian armed forces from Crimea, citing
Russian threats to the lives of military staff and their families --
effectively yielding the region to Moscow's forces. They stormed one of
Kiev's last bases there Monday.
Aleksey Chaly, often
referred to as Sevastopol's new de facto mayor, announced Tuesday the
dismissal of all "self-defense" teams, saying the "enemy" was now gone,
as no forces loyal to Kiev remain in the city.
"I would like to draw
the attention of some commanders of the self-defense units to the fact
that the revolution is over," he said in a video on YouTube. "This week,
federal agencies are being established, and we're beginning to live by
the laws of the Russian Federation."
CNN's Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Victoria Butenko, Alexander Felton, Radina Gigova and Boriana Milanova contributed to this report.
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