President Obama departs for Europe ahead of NATO summit, analyst comments
(2 Sep 2014) For the second time this year, US President Barack Obama will travel to Russia's backyard to assure nervous nations of his ironclad commitment to their security. But his objectives will be clouded by the West's inability to halt Russian aggression in Ukraine that has stoked fears in other former Soviet republics. Fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels continued in eastern Ukraine as Obama prepared to fly to Estonia for meetings with Baltic leaders, and to Wales for a NATO summit. The Ukrainian government, NATO and Western nations say Russia has already sent troops, artillery and tanks across Ukraine's southeast border to reinforce the separatists, a claim Russia has denied. While Obama has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could face more economic penalties, he also continues to resist calls for the US to provide military support to help Ukrainian forces push back the Russian incursion. Eugene Rumer, a former US intelligence officer for Russia, said the inability of the US and Europe to stop Putin so far is compounding fears in other countries near Russia's borders. "The President is really facing an impossible task of reassuring allies that inherently cannot be reassured to the degree that they want to be reassured, simply because of their geography, because of their history, because of their very difficult relationship they now have with Russia," said Rumer, who now runs the Russia and Eurasia programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Rumer says the Baltic states see Western responses as insufficient, which adds to their concerns. The crisis between Russia and Ukraine has raised the stakes for this week's NATO summit. Obama will press member states to increase their defence spending, and the alliance is expected to agree on plans to boost training missions and other military commitments in Central and Eastern European countries. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
