Ukraine on the line: Obama, Putin find little common ground in telephone diplomacy
When President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Ukraine in two lengthy phone calls this month, neither expected the other to say: “You know what? You’re right.”
Instead, each leader laid out his own set of facts with no common ground between them, according to public and private accounts of the calls. Putin told Obama that ethnic Russians in Crimea needed protection from attacks by Ukrainian nationalists. The government in Kiev, he said, was illegal, and Russia’s actions to defend them were completely legitimate.
Not so, Obama responded. There were no attacks against ethnic Russians, and Putin’s deployment of troops to Crimea was illegal. Obama said Russia could withdraw and allow international monitors to assess the situation, or risk serious international consequences, according to a senior administration official listening in.
But despite the near-total lack of common ground, the U.S. side, at least, considered the calls useful. It’s always worth talking to Putin, the senior official said, because he says what he thinks and may even reflect later on a conversation that seemed to go nowhere at the time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ukraine-on-the-line-obama-putin-find-little-common-ground-in-telephone-diplomacy/2014/03/08/92ed99c4-a622-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html
