Obama: Vladimir Putin Is ‘Scaring the Heck out of His Neighbors’

"I’m less optimistic about Russia. I have a very direct, blunt and businesslike relationship with Putin. We had a very productive relationship when Medvedev was president, even though Putin was still the power behind the throne, in part because I think the situation in Ukraine caught him by surprise. He has been improvising himself into a nationalist, backward-looking approach to Russian policy that is scaring the heck out of his neighbors and is badly damaging his economy. And sanctions are having a big bite on their economy.

We continue to offer them a pathway to a diplomatic resolution of the problem. But the challenge is this is working for him political inside of Russia even though it is isolating Russia completely internationally. And I think people should take note of how unified we have been able to keep the Europeans on sanctions and penalizing Russia for its behavior, despite the fact that it’s tough on the Russian economy — or on the European economy. But people have recognized there is a core principle at stake that helped to establish peace in Europe and prosperity in Europe that can’t be ignored.

But if you ask me am I optimistic that Putin suddenly changes his mind set? I don’t think that will happen until the politics inside of Russia catch up to what is happening in the economy inside of Russia which is part of the reason why we are going to continue to maintain that pressure."