WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will travel to Russia’s backyard for the second time this year to assure nervous nations of his ironclad commitment to their security.

But his objectives will be clouded by the West’s inability to halt the Russian aggression in Ukraine that has stoked fears in other former Soviet republics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to only be increasing his provocations in the lead-up to Obama’s trip to Estonia for meetings with Baltic leaders and to Wales for a NATO summit.

While Obama has warned that Putin could face more economic penalties, he also continues to resist calls for the US to provide military support to help Ukrainian forces push back the Russian incursion.

The president’s response to the Ukraine crisis is just one element of a broader foreign policy approach that is drawing criticism from both opponents and allies who fear the White House is being too tentative in the face of global threats.

“I think Putin has sized up the West and figured that the most difficult sanctions against Russia and the arms necessary for the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves is not coming from the West, and we have to prove him wrong,” said Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.