Critics Blast Barack Obama Over Russia Comments During First Visit in the White House

In an interview published Thursday, former President Barack Obama stated he had to urge European countries to respond to Russian aggression on several occasions.

Obama Claims He Had To "Drag" Europeans To Respond to Russia's Crimea Invasion

Obama said in an interview with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that he took preemptive actions against Europe and that he needed to twist arms to achieve a comparable response from European countries. Throughout Obama's administration, he has been chastised for his moderate posture toward Russia.

"Because in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways we would have wanted to see," he added. In February, Democrat Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego chastised former President Barack Obama for how he handled Russia during his term, claiming that some of his actions contributed to the difficulties we're witnessing now as the Ukraine crisis worsens.

Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper argued on CNN in February that the Obama administration should have done more to punish Russia for invading and annexing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, Fox News reported. President Joe Biden, Obama's former vice president, said on the same day that "serious war crimes" were being revealed in Ukraine as Russian soldiers retreated from areas near Kyiv.

Obama Never Predicted That Putin Would Invade Ukraine

Biden highlighted depictions of cold-blooded killings as justification for tightening US sanctions on Russia, which target Russia's top financial institutions as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters, among a slew of other Kremlin figures.

Obama spoke on his memories of Putin on Wednesday, saying he's not sure that the guy he knew is the same as the person who is now heading this drive. As for what the US can do in response to Ukraine, Obama said that Americans should support them and their efforts and courage but also take this as a lesson that sadly they are paying the price. They also said that it speaks to a much more bumpy, difficult, violent, challenging future for the coming generation if we don't get some things right here at home, in Europe, Asia, Latin America, KAKE reported.

The former president appeared to be referring to a January Axios-Momentive survey that revealed that 40% of Americans still do not believe Joe Biden is the rightful victor of his 2020 contest versus Trump.

Obama also took a shot at journalists, claiming that the demise of local journalism and the spread of news via large tech and social media had 'exacerbated the difficulty of democracy.' He drew a parallel with the Russians' inability to access any information on their invasion of Ukraine.

Rule of law, freedom of the press and conscience, independent judiciaries, and fair and free elections were among the subjects on which Obama called for consensus. He then linked it to an increase in sloth among those working in favor of democracies, which he claimed contributed to the invasion, as per Daily Mail.