US President Barack Obama told President Vladimir Putin in a 90-minute phone call Saturday that Russia had violated international law with its incursion into Ukraine and warned of US and allied reprisals.
The White House said Obama called on Putin to pull Russian troops back to their bases in Crimea and warned that continued violation of international law by Moscow would lead to further “political and economic isolation.”
The call came as Obama’s national security team met to draw up US responses to the escalating crisis, after Russia’s parliament gave Putin the formal go ahead to send forces to Ukraine and officials in Kiev said 6,000 forces had already been sent to Crimea.