Obama Asks G7, EU to Meet next Week in The Hague on Ukraine
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for a G7 summit next week to discuss the escalating showdown with Russia over Crimea.
The White House said Obama asked fellow leaders of the grouping -- minus G8 member Russia -- to join him in the Hague, where he will be attending a nuclear security summit, to discuss the crisis and how to support Ukraine.
"The United States and the other members of the G7 have already suspended our preparations for the G8 Summit in Sochi," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
"Today President Obama invited his counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the EU to a meeting of G7 leaders next week on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.
"The meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden meanwhile condemned Russia's actions in Crimea, calling them nothing more than a "land grab" and warning of further sanctions against Moscow.
"Russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this path and it will in fact see additional sanctions by the United States and the EU," Biden said during a visit to Warsaw, after the Kremlin announced it now considers Crimea a part of Russia.
Biden had arrived in Poland to "reassure" regional allies as Russia tightened its grip on Crimea.
He will hold talks with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- meeting the latter two in Vilnius on Wednesday.
A senior White House official aboard Air Force One said Biden's visit was "foremost to reassure our allies who are deeply concerned about Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine" including commitments to mutual defense under NATO's Article 5.
However, Biden will "not discuss any changes to the missile defense strategy in eastern Europe... designed to respond to a ballistic missile threat from elsewhere, not Russia," the official said.
The events in Crimea have rattled nerves in Poland and the three Baltic states, which were all under Moscow's thumb before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Earlier Tuesday, Poland's Komorowski and Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskiate spoke via telephone to discuss stepping up security in the region.
"The heads of state acknowledge that Russia's actions in Ukraine and demonstration of military power in (the Russian exclave of) Kaliningrad pose threats to the security of the Baltic region and Poland," Grybauskaite said in a statement after speaking to Komorowski by telephone.
"Therefore, immediate measures and concerted efforts are needed to strengthen regional security," she said.
NATO has already ramped up security in its ex-communist member states bordering Ukraine and Russia.
The United States last week sent six additional F-15 fighter jets to step up NATO's air patrols over the Baltics.
NATO has deployed AWACS reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania as part of its efforts to monitor the crisis in Ukraine.
Washington is also sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and 300 service personnel to Poland as part of a training exercise.
Source: Agence France Presse
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