Obama meets Putin ally with Ukraine still in mind

But to the east, the Russian annexation of Crimea was beginning to take root and Moscow shrugged off Obama's drive to leave Putin in the cold.

The U.S. and some of its closest allies cut Russia out indefinitely from a major coalition of leading industrial nations and canceled a summer summit Russia was to host in its Olympic village of Sochi.

Obama also sought to win backing from other foreign leaders in hopes of ostracizing or even shaming Putin into reversing his acquisition of Crimea and backing away from any designs he might have on other Eastern Europe territory.

In a strongly worded joint statement, the United States, France, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan denounced a referendum in Crimea to secede from Ukraine and Russia's ensuing annexation.

In so doing, the seven leaders also effectively excluded Russia from what had been a two-decade-old coalition known as the Group of Eight.

“This clear violation of international law is a serious challenge to the rule of law around the world and should be a concern for all nations,” the declaration said.

Still, Monday's international gestures in Amsterdam and in The Hague got only a dismissive reaction from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“The G-8 is an informal club,” he said. “It has no membership tickets, and it can't purge anyone by definition.”

And in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine ordered its troops to pull back from the disputed territory, a clear signal that at least for now the fledgling Ukrainian government in Kiev was ceding to Russia's aggressive tactics.