President Obama calls Vladimir Putin's reasons for taking Crimea 'absurd'

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

WASHINGTON - A day after belittling Russia as a 'regional power,' President Obama on Wednesday shredded as 'absurd' Vladimir Putin's arguments for seizing Crimea.

Russia can't 'run roughshod over its neighbors,' Obama told a Brussels audience as he compared American democratic ideals with Putin's 'brute force' and 'older, more traditional view of power.'

'Just because Russia has a deep history with Ukraine does not mean it should be able to dictate Ukraine's future,' Obama said. 'No amount of propaganda can make right something the world knows is wrong.'

Obama's speech, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in the capital of the European Union, capped three days of meetings with Western leaders rallying opposition to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

In his address, Obama dismissed Putin's claim that Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine were in danger.

And Obama denied that self-interest moved Washington to back the ouster of Ukraine President - and Putin ally - Viktor Yanukovych, the event that triggered Russia's aggression.

'Neither the United States nor Europe has any interest in controlling Ukraine,' he said. 'What we want is for the Ukrainian people to make their own decisions, just like other free people around the world.'

Notably, Obama even defended America's intervention in Iraq against Putin's claims that the U.S. was being hypocritical for invading that country but criticizing Russia's takeover of Crimea.

Obama pointed out that he opposed the Iraq war as a U.S. senator and that the U.S. 'sought to work within the international system.'

'We did not claim or annex Iraq's territory, nor did we grab its resources for our own gain,' he said. 'Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state could make decisions about its own future.'

But Obama also used the speech to rally European leaders, saying that NATO nations must honor their commitments to their collective security that has fostered prosperity since the end of the Cold War.

'I come here today to say we must never take for granted the progress than has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world,' Obama said.

Obama's warning about complacency came after he pointedly told European leaders of his concern about their declining defense budgets.

'If we have a collective defense, it means everyone's go to chip in,' Obama said.

Similarly, he said that cutting their reliance on Russian energy must be a higher priority.

Obama flew to Rome late Wednesday and was scheduled to meet Pope Francis on Thursday before concluding his overseas trip with a stop in Saudi Arabia.