Analysis: Limited US, European options in Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite blunt warnings about costs and consequences, President Barack Obama and European leaders have limited options for retaliating against Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, the former Soviet republic now at the center of an emerging conflict between East and West.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far dismissed the few specific threats from the United States, which include scrapping plans for Obama to attend an international summit in Russia this summer and cutting off trade talks sought by Moscow. Because Ukraine does not have full-member status in NATO, the U.S. and Europe have no obligation to come to its defense. And broader international action through the United Nations seems all but impossible, given Russia's veto power as a member of the Security Council.
"There have been strong words from the U.S. and other counties and NATO," said Keir Giles, a Russian military analyst at the Chatham House think tank in London. "But these are empty threats. There is really not a great deal that can be done to influence the situation."
As if to underscore that point, Putin on Saturday requested and was granted permission to use Russia's military not just in the pro-Russian region of Crimea, but also throughout Ukraine. Putin's request came one day after Obama warned that any violation of Ukraine's "sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing."
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