(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Barack Obama has said that the US would stand by its European allies in the face of Russian aggression but ruled out using force to dislodge Moscow's forces from the Crimean peninsula.
"Every Nato ally has assurances that Nato will uphold article security protection
We have a strong Nato treaty, so if it happens to our allies, we will act together," he said in remarks he mae in Brussels on Tuesday and posted at the website of 'The Daily Telegraph' newspaper's
But in comments apparently designed to mock Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, he added that "Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbours, not out of strength but out of weakness." "We have considerable influence on our neighbour
We generally don't need to invade them in order to have a strong cooperative relationship with them," he sai
"The facts on the ground are that the Russian military controls Crimea. There is no expectation that they will be dislodged by forc
There is no simple solution to what has taken place in Crimea," he sai
Obama's comments came as the Ukraine's defence minister resigned over his handling of the Crimean Crisis, which has seen Russian troops overrun and annex the country's Black Sea peninsular. The ongoing crisis in Crimea claimed its first political scalp on Tuesday, as the Ukrainian defence minister resigned over accusations of indecision in the face of the Russian invasio
General Ihor Tenyukh tendered his resignation early on Tuesday morning, a day after over 18,000 Ukrainian troops on the peninsula began a long-awaited withdrawal from the Russian-occupied peninsul
"Given that some may not like the actions I am taking .
I will not cling to my post," Tenyukh told MPs. "If the leadership has a different view of developing events and other candidates, I, acting defence minister General Tenyukh, offer my resignation." Parliament, which initially rejected his resignation, later appointed Colonel General Myhaylo Kova, a former paratrooper and border troops commander, as his successo
The government in Kiev has faced increasing criticism for failing to order Ukrainian forces to withdraw from what was obviously a hopeless situation. Oleksander Turchynov, the interim president of Ukraine, finally gave the order to pull out on Monday morning after Russian forces overran the marine base in Feodosia, the last major military asset still under Ukrainian control
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