The Obama administration worked Sunday with the European Union to forge a much-needed financial bailout of Ukraine, but also extended an olive branch to Russia by inviting it to join the effort.
The U.S. response to the removal of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych drove home the delicate balance the White House is seeking to strike as it tries to cement Ukraine's future with the West without provoking a Russian intervention in a country it has long considered a strategic ally.
Although the Ukrainian opposition's success in ousting Mr. Yanukovych suggests the West has gained the upper hand for now, the West has studiously avoided a declaration of victory out of recognition that doing so could fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin's determination to bring about a reversal.
"It's not in the interests of the Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or of the United States to see the country split," President Barack Obama's national security advisor, Susan Rice, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," outlining one potential danger.
Addressing another, she added Moscow would be making a "grave mistake" if it sent armed forces into Ukraine to try to restore a compliant government. "It's in nobody's interest to see violence return and the situation escalate," she said. Though Russian officials haven't suggested that the Kremlin might respond militarily, some Western officials fear the possibility given Russia's military intervention in the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2008.
Mr. Obama and other senior U.S. officials held extensive discussions with Mr. Putin and his top aides over the weekend in an effort to support a peaceful political transition away from Mr. Yanukovych, a close Putin ally, according to senior administration officials.
U.S. officials, in particular, sought to work with Moscow to fashion a multi-billion-dollar International Monetary Fund rescue package for Ukraine.
