--- title: President Barack Obama Says Putin Is On 'Wrong Side of History' description: Russian President Vladimir Putin is "on the wrong side of history," says President Obama canonical: https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-03T20:09:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:33:11.615Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Barack Obama Says Putin Is On 'Wrong Side of History' og:description: Russian President Vladimir Putin is "on the wrong side of history," says President Obama og:url: https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8da2e5c95dd5e612/698683b5e53aba70074d145f/74692790891c4ef287c3ab279e41eef1-0-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Barack Obama Says Putin Is On 'Wrong Side of History' twitter:description: Russian President Vladimir Putin is "on the wrong side of history," says President Obama twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8da2e5c95dd5e612/698683b5e53aba70074d145f/74692790891c4ef287c3ab279e41eef1-0-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama: U.S. Working To 'Isolate Russia' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d23d0d26-5dcb-4772-934e-dc9e916e170e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 3, 2014 8:09 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks about Ukraine in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Feb. 28, 2014. President Barack Obama speaks about Ukraine in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Feb. 28, 2014. Charles Dharapak‚—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 3, 2014 8:09 PM UTC President Barack Obama said Monday that if Russia continues an incursion into the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the United States would take diplomatic and economic steps to “isolate” the country. Speaking to reporters in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama said that invading the Ukrainian territory was a “violation of international law” that puts Russian President Vladimir Putin “on the wrong side of history.” “What cannot be done is for Russia with impunity to put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world,” Obama said. Qualifying his threat on Friday that “there will be costs” for a Russian invasion, the president added, “Over time this will be a costly proposition for Russia.” “If in fact they continue on the current trajectory they’re on, then we are examining a whole series of steps—economic, diplomatic—that will isolate Russia and will have a negative impact on Russia’s economy and status in the world,” Obama said. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that it was “likely” the United States and allies would pursue sanctions against Russia. “At this point we’re not just considering sanctions, given the actions Russia is taking,” she said. “It is likely that we will put those in place, and we are preparing that right now.” American officials conceded Sunday that Russian military forces now have “complete operational control” of the Crimean peninsula, the home of Russia’s Black Sea naval base, a day after Putin won the approval of his parliament to invade Ukraine. Obama called on Congress to swiftly approve an aid package for the fledgling Ukrainian government. “I would hope that would be the first order of business,” when Congress reconvenes for votes later this week, Obama said, adding he hoped the issue would be “outside of partisanship.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/"},"headline":"Obama: U.S. Working To 'Isolate Russia'","datePublished":"2014-03-03T20:09:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:33:11.615Z","description":"Russian President Vladimir Putin is \"on the wrong side of history,\" says President Obama","url":"https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/","keywords":["putin","Ukraine","Obama","Sanctions","Crimea","State Department"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8da2e5c95dd5e612/698683b5e53aba70074d145f/74692790891c4ef287c3ab279e41eef1-0-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8da2e5c95dd5e612/698683b5e53aba70074d145f/74692790891c4ef287c3ab279e41eef1-0-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Charles Dharapak‚—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"https://time.com/11900/obama-u-s-working-to-isolate-russia/","name":"Obama: U.S. Working To 'Isolate Russia'"}}]}] ```