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Tuesday 24 February 2015

This is Putin's objective in Ukraine: Expert

This is Putin's objective in Ukraine: Expert

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to take control of Ukraine along the border down to Crimea, and it's beginning to look like that may happen, retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs told CNBC on Monday.
That will give Putin control over the Russian speakers in the area and will give him a warm-water port in the Black Sea, Jacobs pointed out."He'll effectively have total control over that area along the Black Sea, which will make Ukraine a land-locked country," the Medal of Honor recipient and MSNBC military analyst said in an interview with " Power Lunch ."
Despite a cease-fire agreement last week, new attacks have continued in Ukraine. That led Ukraine to delay a promised pullback of heavy weapons from the front line Monday.
Meanwhile, the United States doesn't seem willing to do what it takes to put a stop to Putin, Jacobs said.
"We don't even have support among the Europeans for economic means to really squeeze Putin," he noted.
Jacobs said that's because Europe does not want to break any economic connection with the country.
"They've thrown in the towel already. They're not on our side and we're not going to do anything to irritate Western Europeans, quite frankly."
The European Union is Russia's biggest trading partner. Russian imports from the EU accounted for 123.2 billion euros ($139.6 billion) in 2012, according to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union.
Last week, the EU announced a new list of sanctions against pro-Russian separatists, Russian military leaders and politicians but experts have voiced doubt about how the measures will impact Russia's economy.
-CNBC's Dina Gusovsky and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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