Obama: ‘Relationship Between Russia and Us, Sadly, Has Deteriorated Significantly’

EXCERPT:

OBAMA: “Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to Russia or others not to do this to us, because we can do stuff to you. But it is also important for us to do that in a thoughtful, methodical way. Some of it we do publicly, some of it we will do in a way that they know but not everybody will. And I know that there have been folks out there who suggests somehow that if we went out there and made big announcements and thumped our chests about a bunch of stuff that somehow that would potentially spook the Russians. But keep in mind that we already have enormous numbers of sanctions against the Russians. The relationship between us and Russia has deteriorated, sadly, significantly over the last several years. And so, how we approach an appropriate response that increases costs for them for behavior like this in the future, but does not create problems for us is something that’s worth taking the time to think through and figure out."