U.S. Cuts Military Aid to Ukraine

Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a constitutional amendment and treaty formally annexing Crimea. Meanwhile, over the objections of its European allies, the Obama administration this week proposed a 28 percent cut to a Pentagon program that supports the modernization of Ukraine's military, as well as those of other former Soviet republics. The cuts were proposed in a budget plan posted this week. The 28 percent reduction would bring funding for the Warsaw Initiative Fund down to $24.4 million from $34 million. The cuts are a result of the Pentagon "responding to a very challenging fiscal environment, which will become all the more challenging if sequestration remains the law of the land," said a spokeswoman.