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Monday, 3 March 2014 00:33 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Troops with no insignia on their uniforms but clearly Russian - some in vehicles with Russian number plates - have already seized Crimea, an isolated peninsula in the Black Sea where Moscow has a large military presence in the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet. Kiev’s new authorities have been powerless to stop them.
The United States said Russia was in clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and called on Moscow to withdraw its forces back to bases in Crimea. It also urged the deployment of international monitors to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, leading a government that took power after Moscow’s ally Viktor Yanukovich fled a week ago, said Russian military action “would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia”.
Acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered troops to be placed on high combat alert. Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he had met European and US officials and sent a request to NATO to “examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”.
The United States will suspend participation in preparatory meetings for a summit of G8 countries in Sochi, Russia, and warned of “greater political and economic isolation”, the White House said in a statement after President Barack Obama and Putin held a 90-minute telephone call.
Obama told Putin that if Russia had concerns about ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it should address them peacefully, the White House said.
Putin’s move was a direct rebuff to Western leaders who had repeatedly urged Russia not to intervene, including Obama, who just a day earlier had held a televised address to warn Moscow of “costs” if it acted.
Putin told Obama that Russia reserved the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
‘Dangerous situation’
The Russian forces solidified their control of Crimea and unrest spread to other parts of Ukraine on Saturday. Pro-Russian demonstrators clashed, sometimes violently, with supporters of Ukraine’s new authorities and raised the Russian flag over government buildings in several cities.
“This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968,” said a Western official on condition of anonymity. “Realistically, we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands. The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine.”
Putin asked parliament to approve force “in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots” and to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
The upper house swiftly delivered a unanimous “yes” vote, shown live on television.
Western capitals scrambled for a response.
Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power called for the swift deployment of international monitors from the United Nations and the Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to Ukraine to help stem the escalating crisis there.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in a phone call that Moscow’s military intervention risked creating further instability and an escalation “that would threaten European and international security”, the Pentagon said. A US defence official said there had been no change in US military posture or in the alert status of forces.
EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton urged Moscow not to send troops. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said this would be “clearly against international law”. Czech President Milos Zeman likened the crisis to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.
“Urgent need for de-escalation in Crimea,” tweeted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “NATO allies continue to coordinate closely.”
