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"As Russian troops amass along the Ukraine border and take over military facilities in the Crimea region, the United States has distanced itself from any boots-on-the-ground intervention. \nThe U.S. won't send troops or weapons, but it will send hashtags.\nSee also: In Pictures, Crimea's New Russian Identity\nWhile Congress approved an aid package for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia this week, the State Department pushed a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #UnitedForUkraine, which calls on people to share their support for the country.\nPresident Obama had great success using social media during his campaigning days, but does that same mindset work for foreign affairs?\n\"I don\u2019t know what effect this is supposed to have,\" said former State Department diplomat James Lewis. \"It's a hashtag. What\u2019s it going to do? For this situation, it\u2019s not a useful tool.\"\nTo get the momentum going on the hashtag, top officials posted their own photos. Among the most notable was the State Department's chief spokesperson Jen Psaki, who was once in the running for the Obama's press secretary. \n\nTo echo @BarackObama today-proud to stand #UnitedForUkraine World should stand together with one voice pic.twitter.com/VeMt578UdY\n\u2014 Jen Psaki (@statedeptspox) March 26, 2014\n\nOther State Department officials, such as deputy spokesperson Marie Harf, and even high-ranking members of the Obama Administration followed suit. \n\nAs the President said today, we're proud to stand #UnitedForUkraine and bring the world together to speak w/one voice pic.twitter.com/v8haCIgYLL\n\u2014 Marie Harf (@marieharf) March 26, 2014\n\n\nAs POTUS said: US &amp; allies will keep standing together #UnitedforUkraine &amp; its ppl as they chart a democratic course pic.twitter.com/LvdGdfm60u\n\u2014 John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 26, 2014\n\nSince the hashtag popped up, it has gotten more than 10,000 tweets in two days, and some pushback from both the media and some Twitter users. \n\n@gopfashionista @statedeptspox Did a State Dept official actually post a selfie with a sign? Oh, how far we've fallen.\n\u2014 Nope, Matt Testa (@mdrache) March 27, 2014\n\nHowever, the people who really matter \u2014 those who live in Ukraine \u2014 aren't upset about this specific campaign, and the flak over the State Department's stunt is largely confined to the U.S.\n\"Nobody here is talking about the Psaki photo,\" said Christopher Miller, Kyiv Post editor and Mashable correspondent. \"The #UnitedForUkraine campaign hasn't been heavily criticized here, but rather supported.\"\nUkrainians' irritation with Western leaders over a lack of action has been bubbling for months, and it has nothing to do with the State Department's hashtag.\n\"Ukrainians have been frustrated for four months over the slow response and lack of support from the U.S. and the EU. This isn't anything new or big,\" said Miller.\nOver the past few weeks, Russia has taken over Ukraine's Crimea region. First, it moved in unmarked troops and seized government buildings, and then encouraged a vote to annex the region, in which 97% of Crimea residents voted to join Russia.\nThe United Nations said on Thursday it will not recognize Russia's claim over Crimea, saying it \"has no validity\" and that parties involved should work toward a peaceful resolution immediately. For his part, President Obama hasn't necessarily glossed his words about Russian President Vladimir Putin during his European tour this week. After the nuclear summit in The Hague, Netherlands, he dismissed the notion that Russia was America's No. 1 geopolitical foe.\n\"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors not out of strength, but out of weakness,\" Obama said. \"What we can bring to bear are the legal arguments, the diplomatic arguments, the political pressure, the economic sanctions that are already in place to try to make sure that there\u2019s a cost to that process.\"\nHowever even Obama's strong words haven't seemed to sway Putin. As Western media attention on Ukraine is dwindling to the bottom of the news lineup over headlines like the Malaysia Airlines plane disappearance, Putin may be betting on the chance that the U.S. may forget about Crimea and let this one slide. \n\"Once you realize there's nothing you can do people tend to move on,\" Lewis said. \nIt's the same trend we saw last year with Syria, when the U.S. was on the brink of war after the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its citizens. Crimea, however, is different. It's going to take longer to play out because Europeans have figured out that Putin isn't going to let go of Crimea, Lewis said.\n\"[Russia] plays hardball,\" he said. \"A Twitter hashtag doesn\u2019t count. Someone will figure out that we need to do more.\"\nPutin called President Obama late Friday to \"discuss the U.S. proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine,\" according to White House reports. Obama suggested that Russia put a concrete response in writing. Both presidents agreed that Secretary of State John Kerry would meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to talk about next steps.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/03/28/united-for-ukraine/>