Is It War? Ukraine Conflict Definition Softens in West [View all]

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By Gregory Viscusi Aug 29, 2014 6:32 AM ET

For governments in the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania, Russia has invaded Ukraine and the two countries are now at war. Head further west, and they’re less sure what to call it.

While all agree that a line has been crossed, U.S and NATO officials prefer to speak of an “incursion,” the word used by President Barack Obama at a White House press conference yesterday. French leaders have warned President Vladimir Putin of more sanctions without defining what Russia has done.

“In the past 48 hours, we have tipped into a formal invasion,” Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said in a Bloomberg television interview. “Russia and Ukraine as sovereign countries are now at war and it’s going to be very difficult for the United States and Europe to deny that.”

Calling it war or an invasion would force the U.S. and European Union to consider steps they’ve been unwilling to take, short of military action, Bremmer said. While sanctions have been imposed on some areas of the Russian economy, Europe continues to rely on Russia for natural-gas imports and Russian trade with the EU was worth about $390 billion last year.

“The EU appears to have exhausted its politically feasible options in the previous round” of sanctions, Ievgen Vorobiov, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw, said in a telephone interview.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-28/is-it-war-ukraine-conflict-definition-softens-in-west.html