President Barack Obama said that Russia's involvement in Ukraine has diminished Moscow's influence in the region, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Obama made the comment in response to claims that Russia is the U.S.'s number one geopolitical opponent. In fact, Obama said, Russia now has "less influence, not more," after its political annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The president also admitted he does not think Russia will leave Crimea any time soon.
"There's no expectation that they will be dislodged by force," Obama said during a news conference at the end of a nuclear security summit at The Hague, the LA Times reported.
"So what we can bring to bear are the legal arguments, the diplomatic arguments, the political pressure, the economic sanctions that are already in place, to try to make sure that there's a cost to that process."
Over 50 countries gathered at the nuclear security summit to discuss ways to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of militant groups. But attention was diverted to the crisis in Ukraine, and the West's efforts, led by Obama, to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect Ukrainian sovereignty.
Obama also quashed other claims that U.S. global influence has weakened under his administration, such as the president's warnings about the civil war in Syria that were ignored. American presidents don't always get their way, Obama said.
The world has "always been messy," Obama said, the LA Times reported.
"There are going to be moments where military action is appropriate," Obama said about his refusal to send troops into Syria, the newspaper reported. "There are going to be some times where that's not in the national security interests of the United States or some of our partners.
"But that doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to make the effort, or speak clearly about what we think is right and wrong," Obama said.
