Obama to urge Europe to keep up pressure on Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will press European leaders this week to keep up pressure on Russia over its threatening moves in Ukraine, while seeking to assuage fears from Poland and other NATO allies that the West could slip back into a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow.

Obama's four day trip to Poland, Belgium and France comes against the backdrop of successful national elections in Ukraine and signs that Russia is moving most of its troops off its shared border with the former Soviet republic. Yet violence continues to rage in eastern Ukrainian cities and there remains deep uncertainty about whether Ukraine's new president-elect can stabilize his country.

U.S. officials contend that, even with some signs of progress, Russia has not taken the necessary steps to ease tensions and could still face additional economic sanctions. Obama will look for Western allies to show a united front during a meeting of the Group of Seven major industrial nations that was quickly arranged after leaders decided to boycott a meeting Russia had been scheduled to host this week.

But at least some parts of Obama's visit will challenge the notion that the West has isolated Moscow. Russian President Vladmir Putin is scheduled to join U.S. and European leaders in France Friday for a day of events marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Putin will also hold one-on-one talks with French President Francois Hollande, his first meeting with a Western leader since the Ukraine crisis began.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_EUROPE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-06-01-08-50-18


In Europe, Obama gets second chance to explain his Russia policy

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama heads to Warsaw, Brussels, Paris and Normandy this week where he is expected to elaborate on the U.S. commitment to counter Russian moves against Ukraine and reassure nervous allies the United States has their backs.

In Poland, Ukraine's western neighbour, Obama meets with Eastern European leaders - including Ukraine's president-elect, Petro Poroshenko, on Wednesday - and is expected to address criticism he has not done enough to push back against Moscow after it annexed Crimea in March.

The president's trip follows a speech at the U.S. Military Academy last week in which he argued that American leadership in the world should be exercised mainly by diplomacy, multilateral action and economic pressure, as in Ukraine, rather than through military might.

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But when Obama meets in Warsaw with leaders from 10 nations from Central and Eastern Europe, analysts say he will be urged to articulate a clearer plan to help prevent more instability in the region.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/01/uk-ukraine-crisis-obama-idUKKBN0EC13N20140601