Obama: US military ‘significantly superior’ to Russia’s

The Russians are “not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians,” Obama said during an interview with CBS News on Wednesday.
 
He was responding to a question about a Russian fighter jet buzzing a US Navy ship in the Black Sea on Saturday.
 
“We don’t need a war,” Obama said. “What we do need is a recognition that countries like Ukraine can have relationships with a whole range of their neighbors and it is not up to anybody, whether it is Russia or the United States or anybody else, to make decisions for them.”
 
Elsewhere in his remarks, the US leader accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the unrest in Ukraine.
 
“What they’ve also done is supported, at minimum, non-state militias in southern and eastern Ukraine and we’ve seen some of the activity that’s been taking place there,” Obama said.
 
On Tuesday, Ukrainian acting President Olexander Turchynov announced the start of an "anti-terrorist operation" against the protesters after they seized buildings in about 10 towns and cities across the country’s eastern provinces.
 
The aim of the operation is to “protect Ukrainian citizens, to stop the terror, to stop the crime, to stop the attempts to tear our country apart,” Turchynov said.
 
The White House has backed the Ukrainian government's military operation against anti-Kiev protesters in the east of the country, urging it to continue to do so in a measured and responsible way.
 
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney stated that Kiev had responded with "admirable restraint" to destabilizing actions in the country by armed men.
 
Foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, the US and the European Union are scheduled to meet in Geneva on Thursday over the Ukraine crisis.
 
Some US administration officials have said that Washington does not expect a breakthrough in Geneva.
 
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it is expected that more sanctions would be imposed against Russia if there was no progress at the meeting.