US fails to convince Europe to sanction Russia

According to the Voice of Russia, a source from the US delegation said that in the capital Riyadh of Saudi Arabia, President Barack Obama and the host country's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud discussed "tactical disagreements" between the two countries on a number of international issues, but affirmed that they are still strategic allies. Mr. Obama's trip to Europe also achieved similar results.

European leaders and the US President have both expressed their desire to strengthen the alliance, however, the differences in interests between Washington and most European countries are quite clear.

US President Obama attends the US-European Union Summit. (Source: AFP/VNA)

Obama spent most of his week in Europe trying to persuade his European Union partners to punish Russia over the Crimea referendum. However, the US president failed to get Brussels to impose economic sanctions on Moscow, although many EU countries affirmed that they still stood by Washington.

On sanctions against the Kremlin, the EU countries listened to Mr Obama but refused to impose sanctions.

Leading EU countries do not understand why they should cut ties with Russia, their largest trading partner outside the EU, just to support the government in Kiev that Washington helped install by force. In Germany alone, more than 300,000 people depend on economic ties with Russia./.

According to VNA