U.S. President Barack Obama calls his sanctions policy against Russia "calibrated," while his Republican rivals dismiss it a "slap on the wrist" and Russia condemns it as "illegitimate."
As the White House embarks on what experts agree is a cautious approach to penalizing Russia for its intervention in Ukraine, the strategy behind the seemingly light penalties is being cast by Obama administration officials as a slow battle of attrition — chipping away at Russian President Vladimir Putin's credibility while keeping U.S. policy in lock step with Europe.
The deliberative policy is rooted in Obama's multilateral style of governing and a belief that the United States must not overreach in a way that could have costly consequences. But it has left Obama open to criticism from Republicans in Congress who feel he is too weak and not taking the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War seriously enough.