Putin Thumbing His Nose at Obama

Russia hasn’t lived up to its agreement on Ukraine, a measure of disrespect to President Obama. The Wall Street Journal reports here.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Russia hasn’t abided by either the spirit or the letter of an agreement to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine, and he warned that the U.S. is prepared to impose additional costs.

“There will be further consequences, and we will ramp up further sanctions,” he said during a news conference in Tokyo Thursday.

The White House warned earlier this week that it would act if evidence of Russia’s compliance with an agreement reached in Geneva isn’t evident “in the coming days.” Mr. Obama didn’t offer a more specific timeline Thursday, saying only that the timing was a matter of days, not weeks.

The president said that the sanctions involve technical work that must be completed before the U.S. can move forward.

“The fact that I haven’t announced them yet doesn’t mean that they haven’t been prepared and teed up,” Mr. Obama said.

The president also said the U.S. wants to secure the support of allies. He said even graver sanctions may not change Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s calculations.

Russia still has the opportunity to comply with the accord reached last week, Mr. Obama said.

“Do I think they’re going to do that?” he said. “So far, the evidence doesn’t make me hopeful.”