Obama: Europe not East-West battleground
AMSTERDAM - US President Barack Obama said Monday that despite Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula away from Ukraine he does not view Europe as a battleground between the East and the West.
In an interview with the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant published ahead of his arrival in Amsterdam, Obama says his message to European leaders is that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to understand the economic and political consequences of his actions in Ukraine.
Obama concedes the sanctions he has threatened against Russian economic sectors could have worldwide effect, saying "if Russia continues to escalate the situation, we need to be prepared to impose a greater cost." (AP)
