Russia’s invasion of Crimea is not the biggest security threat for the United States, President Barack Obama said at a news conference at The Hague, according to
The Weekly Standard.
"I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan," Obama said.
Story continues after video.
"With respect to Mr. [Mitt] Romney's assertion that Russia is our No. 1 geopolitical foe, the truth of the matter is that America has a whole lot of challenges," the president said. "Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength, but out of weakness.
"Ukraine has been a country on which Russia had enormous influence for decades, since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and we have considerable influence on our neighbors, we generally don't need to invade them in order to have a strong cooperative relationship with them. The fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and laid bare these violations of international law indicates less influence, not more."
On Monday, the G-8 – the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom — suspended Russia for invading and annexing Crimea, while threatening further sanctions should Russia continue to break international law, according to
The New York Times.
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes told
Fox News last month that Russia’s actions are evidence that Obama’s foreign policy is a failure, arguing that "preventive diplomacy" should have been done "a long, long time ago."
"Unfortunately, this administration like so many issues, is behind the power curve," Brookes said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.