Obama Set to 'Further Isolate' Russia

White House spokesman announced that US President Barack Obama is determined that the United States must continue its efforts to isolate Russia.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama is determined that the United States must continue its efforts to isolate Russia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“I can tell you that the President’s view continues to be that this administration needs to be continually assessing what our strategy is to further isolate the Putin regime in Russia to convince them to re-evaluate their strategy in Ukraine,” Earnest told reporters Monday.

The United States’ Russia policy has so far been successful, according to the White House spokesman.

In addition to “uniting the international community around this principle of respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries”, the US strategy has helped devalue the Rouble and cause debt evaluators to downgrade Russia’s securities, Earnest stated.

Relations between Russia and the United States deteriorated greatly in 2014 amid the crisis in Ukraine. Washington, alongside a number of western allies, introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions, blaming Moscow of providing pro-independence militia in eastern Ukraine with military support.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the conflict, deeming sanctions as counterproductive and calling on the warring sides in Ukraine to engage in direct dialogue to find a political solution to the crisis.