US President Barack Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine, Saturday, March 1, 2014 (photo credit: Pete Souza/White House/Flickr )
Exclusive: Putin Halts All Talks With White House -- Josh Rogin, Daily Beast
As new U.S. sanctions against Russia loom, the Kremlin has shut down—at least for now—intensive high level communications between top U.S. and Russian officials.
Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.
“Putin will not talk to Obama under pressure,” said Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a prominent Moscow think tank, and a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It does not mean forever.”
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My Comment: In another time we would have called such an action .... "breaking diplomatic relations". But in today's world .... it is now called "halting all talks".
The Kremlin spokesperson is denying this story .... Communication between Putin, Obama continues (Voice of Russia) .... but I have been following other Russian news sources and some of them are saying that the Russian government has made the decision to curtail diplomatic ties with Washington. Aside from Josh Rogin at the Daily Beast .... all other major U.S. news outlets have not reported on this story yet.
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