US warns Russia against escalating conflict in Ukraine

By Balitang America Staff, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

March 3, 2014

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – The Obama administration warns Moscow that it would directly hold the country responsible for any threats to Ukraine’s navy.

Although the US State Department did not elaborate on potential consequences for Russia, US officials say any Russian threat to Ukraine’s navy would be a dangerous escalation of an already extremely tense situation.

For now the State Department says they could not confirm if Russia had in fact made such threats.

The United States and its allies are considering sanctions on Moscow.

Secretary of State John Kerry says world leaders are prepared to make sure to isolate Russia with respect to this invasion.

But not many Americans want the US to get involved in policing the political problems in Ukraine.

In a new poll by Huffington Post and yougov, only 18 percent of Americans say the United States has a responsibility to protect Ukraine in case of a Russian invasion.

Forty-six percent say the US should not get involved.

Meantime, President Obama is getting slammed by his GOP opponents.

Republican Sen. John McCain says Russia’s use of military force in Ukraine is the result of weak foreign policy by the White House.

McCain criticized President Obama’s foreign policy as the reason “nobody believes in America’s strength anymore.”