Obama, Putin Talk Ukraine Separatists, Nuclear Missiles
Source: Associated Press
BY Associated Press August 1, 2014 at 1:46 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin to reiterate concern about Russia’s support of separatists in Ukraine and about Russian compliance with a 1987 nuclear missile treaty that the U.S. says Moscow breached.
The White House says Obama spoke to Putin Friday. The call came at the end of a week in which the U.S. and the European Union increased sanctions against Russia.
Also Friday, Vice President Joe Biden announced $8 million in new assistance to Ukraine to improve its border security. The money will pay for transportation, small boats and better surveillance equipment. But it does not include armaments, as demanded by some congressional Republicans.
The White House said Biden called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday to announce the assistance.
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/obama-putin-talk-ukraine-separatists-nuclear-missiles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRundownNewsBlog+%28The+Rundown+News+Blog%29
Putin to Obama: US Sanctions Against Russia Hurt Bilateral Relations
MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) — Continuing sanctions pressure on Moscow is counterproductive and seriously harms Russia-US relations, President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart, Barack Obama, in a phone call on Friday.
«The sides discussed several aspects of Russia-US relations. Putin described Washington’s drive to strengthen sanctions pressure [on Moscow] as a counterproductive move that seriously harms bilateral cooperation and global stability as a whole," the Kremlin said in a statement.
«The presidents agreed that the current state of affairs is not in the interest of either country…and discussed prospects of the Russian-American dialogue in light of the current standoff," the statement said.
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http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140801/191594711/Putin-to-Obama-US-Sanctions-Against-Russia-Hurt-Bilateral-Relations.html
