Obama and Putin debate about the Ukraine crisis

Steven Petrov
The Paw Print
The US President urged the Russian troops to move away from the border

This past weekend the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called the US president, Barack Obama, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and to try to find a resolution of the crisis. The phone conversation continued for over an hour, and the US president explained to Putin how Russia should give a direct and straightforward written answer to the US proposals for ending the crisis through the usage of political measures, changes, and actions.
The US government is seeking the Russian support on the proposal of sending international observers in Crimea, which will primarily deal with following if the Russians in Crimea are treated in the right way and if their rights are acknowledged. This will also mean Putin should pull back all of his troops from Crimea and from its borders with Ukraine, sending them back to their bases. Both of the presidents agreed on a meeting between the US Secretary of State, John Keri, and the Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in order for them to further discuss any future political and economical steps.
The major issue that was pointed out by Putin was regarding the continuous illegal actions and violent protests taken by the activists and extremists in Kiev and other surrounding regions. Vladimir Putin stated that this is an ongoing issue that must be ended.
On Friday, Russia officially announced that it has taken contrary actions to the sanctions that were imposed to it by the Western world. However, the Russian government didn’t point out the new names in their “black list.” The official spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Lukashevich, said that some of the western countries have followed the US example and expanded their list of the people to be sanctioned, including more Russian citizens, and that Moscow can’t leave this political and economic move without a reaction.
According to Lukashevich, the Russian measures, which will serve as a political response to the expansion of the sanctioned list, are going to be reciprocal and in many cases mirroring the Western ones.