President Barack Obama has hinted at the possibility of the United States arming Ukraine with “lethal defensive weapons” to better deal with the ongoing crisis if the ongoing diplomatic efforts fail. After talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is leading a major diplomatic push along with French President Francois Hollande, Obama said that if their effort to bring round Russia fails, the United States will continue to raise the costs on Moscow.
“If, in fact, diplomacy fails, what I’ve asked my team to do is to look at all options — what other means can we put in place to change Mr (Vladimir) Putin’s calculus — and the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that’s being examined,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Merkel. While stressing that he has not yet made a decision on this score, Obama said: “I have consulted with not just Angela, but will be consulting with other allies about this issue.”
“It’s not based on the idea that Ukraine could defeat a Russian army that was determined. It is rather to see whether or not there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defences in the face of separatist aggression,” he said. Having held a round of consultations with Putin in Moscow last week, Merkel and Hollande are set to have a summit meeting this week with the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.
Merkel, while conceding the many setbacks suffered so far, spoke of the importance of a continued push for a diplomatic solution. “We will see whether all sides are ready and willing to come to a negotiated settlement,” she said, adding: “I’ve always said I don’t see a military solution to this conflict, but we have to put all our efforts in bringing about a diplomatic solution.” Obama, who has been under pressure from US lawmakers to arm Ukraine to beat back the Russian-backed separatists, declined to set a red line as such that will prompt him to induct “lethal defensive weapons”.
“It is our ongoing analysis of what can we do to dissuade Russia from encroaching further and further on Ukrainian territory,” he said, adding: “Our hope is, is that that’s done through diplomatic means.” “Unfortunately, Russia has made a decision that I think is bad for them strategically, bad for Europe, bad for the world. And in the face of this aggression and these bad decisions, we can’t simply try to talk them out of it. We have to show them that the world is unified in imposing a cost for this aggression,” Obama said.