--- title: Hillary Clinton Calls Vladimir Putin Move in Crimea Illegal description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate warns that other neighboring countries could suffer a similar fate as Ukraine canonical: https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/ author: Maddy Fry article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-19T15:22:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:35.733Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clinton claims Russia' actions in the Crimea violates international law og:description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate warns that other neighboring countries could suffer a similar fate as Ukraine og:url: https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clinton claims Russia' actions in the Crimea violates international law twitter:description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate warns that other neighboring countries could suffer a similar fate as Ukraine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Clinton Calls Russia's Actions in Crimea 'Illegal' by [Maddy Fry](https://time.com/author/maddy-fry/) ## Maddy Fry Mar 19, 2014 3:22 PM UTC by [Maddy Fry](https://time.com/author/maddy-fry/) ## Maddy Fry Mar 19, 2014 3:22 PM UTC Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton warned late Tuesday that other countries near Russia [could be in danger](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/clinton-warns-further-russian-aggression-0) if Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Crimea goes without consequences Clinton, whose comments on foreign policy are being closely watched as she mulls a possible 2016 presidential bid, described Russia’s annexation of the disputed territory from Ukraine as a violation of international law, the Associated Press reports. Speaking at an event in Montreal, she recommended sanctions against Russia and more support for Ukraine’s new government. “If \[Putin’s\] allowed to get away with that, I think you’ll see a lot of other countries either directly facing Russian aggression or suborned with their political systems so that they are so intimidated that in effect they are transformed into vassals, not sovereign democracies,” Clinton said. Clinton also said Europe needs to decrease its dependency on Russian oil and gas by utilizing alternative energy sources. She described Russia’s actions as symptomatic of a “clash of values” and “an effort by Putin to re-write the boundaries of post-WWII Europe.” \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/clinton-warns-further-russian-aggression-0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/"},"headline":"Clinton Calls Russia's Actions in Crimea 'Illegal'","datePublished":"2014-03-19T15:22:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:35.733Z","description":"The potential 2016 presidential candidate warns that other neighboring countries could suffer a similar fate as Ukraine","url":"https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/","keywords":["2016 Election","putin","Ukraine","russia","2016 Election","Illegal","Crimea"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maddy Fry","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maddy-fry/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/30078/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-crimea-2016/","name":"Clinton Calls Russia's Actions in Crimea 'Illegal'"}}]}] ```