© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
"There is strong consensus that we need to keep pushing Russia to abide by the Mink agreement," Obama said. He added that the Western partners also need to encourage Kiev to stick to the Minsk deal.
"There was discussion of additional steps," if Russia "doubles the aggression on Ukraine", however they were on a technical and not political level, he added.
"Our hope is that we don't have to take additional steps," he said.
Obama said that the sanctions are hurting the Russian economy. He added that President Vladimir Putin would have to make a decision.
Comment: Well, not really. Russian economy is expanding to other regions very nicely.
"Does he continue to wreck his country's economy and continue Russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate glories of the Soviet empire, or does he recognize that Russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries?" Obama said.
Comment: This statement is full of BS. US and NATO are the ones militarily involved in "violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries", not Russia. Crimea voted to be rejoined with Russia, no military coercion needed.
G7 leaders said it joint communique "that the duration of sanctions should be clearly linked to Russia's complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine's sovereignty."
Comment: So Russia has to follow the Minsk agreements that Putin initiated and Poroshenko ignores?
Investigative journalist Tony Gosling told RT that it seems Western politicians are being driven by the US into rhetoric about uniting against Russia.
"This is our old Cold War talk, that is really driven by the Americans, and it certainly does not represent the views of European people or business, which is a bit worrying," he said.
. . . halfway sane voice in the US-NATO bullshit machine, and now that he's essentially neutered he might well be gone.
The beat goes on . . .