Unclear who "most sources" are:
Here's U.S. President Barack Obama at a meeting yesterday with the President's Export Council, which serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade:
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not have good cards and he actually has not played them as well as, sometimes, the Western press seems to give him credit for. There has been an improvisational quality to this whole process because the situation in Ukraine actually took Russia by surprise. And, it is working for him, politically, domestically but profoundly damaging in terms of their economy long-term, not just short-term."
"Where Putin will succeed is if it creates a rift in the trans-Atlantic relationship. If you start seeing Europe divided from the United States, that would be a strategic victory and I am intent on preventing that. And, the way to prevent it is making sure that we are taking into account the very real economic impact on Europe from these sanctions, being measured in terms of how we apply them, and having some strategic patience."
"The notion that we can simply ratchet up sanctions further and further and further and then ultimately Putin changes his mind, I think is a miscalculation."
"What will, ultimately, lead to Russia making a strategic decision is if they recognize that Europe is standing with us, and will be in it for the long haul, and we are, in fact, patient. If they see that there aren't any cracks in the coalition, then, over time, you could see them saying that the costs to their economy outweigh whatever strategic benefits that they get."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko commenting today in an address to the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney about reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin's delegation to India may have included Sergei Aksyonov, Crimea's Moscow-backed leader:
"Indian position doesn't help and doesn't save Mr Aksyonov. He is a criminal, very simple. He has a criminal background, and no doubt he has a criminal future."
Love the qualification that the staunch Moscow defenders of Russia Insider introduce this piece with:
This is another article we publish not because we agree with its thesis (we don’t) but because it intelligently argues that the western policy of confrontation with Russia is wrong even if one accepts its underlying assumption, which is that Russia’s policies are intended to reverse the “defeat” Russia suffered at the end of the Cold War.
It continues, but you get the picture: "Ignore most of what this says because it's inconvenient, but hey, look: Someone is criticizing Western policy on Russia!"
Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak to broadcaster TVN24 in Warsaw yesterday:
"Over the past few days we have seen unprecedented activity by the Russians in the Baltic Sea, both the Baltic fleet and Russian aircraft."
Siemoniak added that Poland, a member of NATO, is not under threat of attack and the Russian maneuvers are most likely designed to test how NATO forces in the region reacted.
Siemoniak also said Warsaw's decision to acquire long-range missiles from the United States was due on the current tensions in the region.
The $250 million deal includes 40 joint air-to-surface missiles that are to be integrated into the Polish Air Force's three tactical squadrons of F-16 fighter jets.
While Poroshenko praises the current lull in fighting as a "real" truce, pro-Kyiv military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk with a reminder of more ominous goings-on under the surface. In addition to the arrival on Ukrainian territory of another Russian truck convoy -- the ninth -- Tymchuk says pro-Moscow forces are "centralizing and organizing militias as part of a so-called 'Novorossiya Army.'"
