Hosting the G7 conference with the world’s strongest economies except Russia in the Bavarian Alps, German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned Russian President Vladimr Putin’s 2014 Ukraine invasion. Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama insisted that the G7 opposed Putin’s disregard for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but offered no plan of reversing the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea and defacto takeover of Southeastern Ukraine. After booting Russia out of the G8 March 24, 2014, Merkel and Obama saw no scenario in which Putin would get back in the G7 unless he returned Crimea to Ukraine and withdrew support of pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. Obama told the G7 that Putin had harmed Russia’s economy by invading Ukraine, turning the Russian Federation into a pariah state violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Condemning Putin’s conduct on Ukraine offered no fix other than maintaining punitive economic sanctions hurting ordinary Russians more than the Kremlin elite. “He’s got to make a decision,” said Obama, speaking of Putin. “Does he continue to wreck the country’s economy and continue Russia’s isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet Empire, or does he recognize that Russia’s greatness does not depend on violating territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries,” Obama told the G7. Talking tough at the G7, Obama has no way other than sanctions to change Putin’s course. Putin said publicly that he invaded Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking people from an illegal pro-Western coup not backed by Crimea or the Donbass region. Putin sees the U.S. and European Union of meddling in Russia’s backyard.
Putin’s choice isn’t as Obama said between respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty or reviving the old Soviet Union. Watching a pro-Western coup threaten the Kremlin’s naval base and military installations in Crimea, Putin played his best geopolitical hand immediately after ending the Sochi Winter Olympics. While talking tough against Putin, no one in the G7 or, for that matter, any other NATO country, has any stomach for confronting Putin. Putin reaffirmed his benign intent, telling Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that he’s no threat to Europe. “There is no need to fear Russia,” said Putin, hoping to improve relations with the G7. Obama doesn’t help the U.S. or EU engaging in hyperbole, when he knows his own foreign policy opposes foreign intervention in Europe or the Middle East. Kremlin propagandists told Russians Putin missed the G7 because he preferred “other formats.”
If Russians had uncensored Internet, they’d know the Russian Federation was booted out of the G8 because of Putin’s March 1, 2014 Crimean invasion. “It’s impossible now to get together in seven or eight people and effectively discuss global problems,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the RIA official Kremlin news agency. While untrue in Putin’s case, it’s actually true that there’s little any select group of countries can do to solve global warming or any other pressing issue, including wars, famine, droughts or plagues. While Merkel said Russia could not be reintegrated into the G8 while Crimea remained occupied and Russian troops threatened Southeastern Ukraine, she offered no fix. Ukraine’s 49-year-old billionaire chocolate baron President Petro Poroshenko said June 5 that under no circumstances would Ukraine accept—Minsk II or not—losing Crimea.
Killing seven Ukrainian soldiers with a roadside bomb today, pro-Russian separatists continue their assault on Ukraine. Despite the Feb. 12 Minsk II Protocol calling for autonomy for the Donbass region, Poroshenko has said emphatically that he would not accept any permanent loss of Ukrainian territory. While the U.S. and EU agree with Poroshenko, there’s not one EU country willing to commit arms and troops to the beleaguered Ukrainian military. Merkel insisted the U.S. and EU were prepared to toughen sanctions if Putin continues doesn’t withdraw from Crimea and the Ukrainian border zone. Poroshenko’s committed to reclaiming lost Ukrainian territory without any backing from the U.S. and EU, only lip service. “As we’ve seen again in recent days, Russian forces continue to operate in the eastern Ukraine, violating Ukraine’s integrity and territorial integrity,” said Obama.
Instead of using the G7 to rip Russia, the world’s most prosperous Democracies should find common ground on the planet’s worst problems. Agreeing to reduce the carbon footprint dramatically by the end of the century, the G7 offered little concrete steps to deal with the most pressing problems, including stopping war, disease, hunger, poverty and global warming. Merkel and Obama haven no real plan to return Crimea to Ukraine or stop the current nuclear arm’s race that favors the Russians. “Russia is in a deep recession. So Russia’s actions in Ukraine are hurting Russia and hurting the Russian people. And the G7 is making it clear that if necessary we stand ready to impose additional significant sanctions against Russia,” said Obama, throwing more gasoline on a burning inferno. More idle threats, backed only by hot air, won’t get Russia out of Crimea or off the Ukrainian border.
