President Barack Obama and Russia

Russia: The moves came amid a flurry of diplomatic jockeying as the U.S. and Europe grappled for ways to punish Russia for its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and to prevent Moscow from pressing further into Ukraine. Also in the Hague, in an unexpected development, Russias foreign minister met with his Ukrainian counterpart, the highest level of contact between the two nations since Russia moved forces into Crimea nearly a month ago, according to The Star. As long as the political environment for the G8 is not there, as at the moment, there is no G8 neither as a concrete summit nor as a format, said Merkel, one of Putins closest Western allies. Russia had been scheduled to host the summit this summer in Sochi, site of the recent Winter Olympics and THE Seeking to isolate Russia, President Barack Obama and Western allies moved to indefinitely cut Moscow out of a major international coalition on Monday, including cancelling an economic summit Russian President Vladimir Putin was to host this summer. Obama huddled with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan for an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven. Ahead of their private talks, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that the G7 would not join with Russia this year for the annual meeting of the Group of Eight. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.