Russia issues sanctions of its own against West
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin fired back at Western sanctions on Wednesday, ordering bans on imports of food and other products from the nations that imposed the restrictions, in the latest sign of Kremlin defiance of efforts to force an end to its support for separatists fighting in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Russia has also massed more combat troops on the Ukrainian border, the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said, with a force now estimated at 20,000 troops. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed alarm Wednesday, saying, 'The risk of a direct intervention is for sure higher than it was several days ago.'
Russia's Defense Ministry Wednesday ridiculed claims of a buildup, expressing 'sympathy' for those in the West it said were forced to make allegations that were a mere 'soap bubble.'
But amid signs that Kiev's military drive to oust pro-Russian separatists from their strongholds in the east of the country is slowing down in the face of heavier resistance from the militants, Moscow's latest moves pose a challenge for the West's attempts to change the Kremlin's course.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that an expanding package of U.S. and international sanctions is squeezing Russia's economy, but said he doesn't know if it will prevent a new Russian military incursion into Ukraine and spur negotiations.
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'The best thing we can do for Ukraine is to try to get back on a political track,' he said at a news conference.
Mr. Putin spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone Wednesday for the first time since before the U.S. and Europe last week imposed the harshest sanctions to date. 'The chancellor voiced concerns that reinforcements for the separatists ... were being delivered from Russia,' a spokeswoman for Ms. Merkel said. 'She also emphasized that the primary goal remained the stabilization of Ukraine, which must itself be able to decide about how to shape its future.'
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who met Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany, with Gen. Philip Breedlove, the top American commander in Europe, told reporters that Russia was continuing to escalate the situation in Ukraine. He said an incursion into Ukraine by Russian forces on the border was possible.
'When you see the buildup of Russian troops and the sophistication of those troops, the training of those troops, the heavy military equipment that's being put along that border, of course it's a reality, it's a threat, it's a possibility - absolutely,' Mr. Hagel said.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com .
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