Putin Assails United States

Times of London: “A swaggering President Putin threatened to send Russian troops deeper into Ukraine as Washington and Moscow opened a billion-dollar bidding war for the future loyalty of the battered country. However, Mr Putin eased fears of an imminent war by saying that the use of force would be a last resort.”

New York Times: “Putin’s comments — in an hourlong unscripted news conference in Moscow in which he described events in Ukraine as an unconstitutional coup and expressed contempt toward the United States — came as East-West tensions escalated in the former Soviet republic on Russia’s doorstep, which has been convulsed in a political and economic crisis for months.”