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| Russian military occupies Crimea (Image: Deutsche Welle) |
Russian troops remain on the territory of Ukrainian Crimea despite the continuous
demands of Ukrainian government and international community to immediately
withdraw them and to respect Ukrainian borders, territorial integrity and
sovereignty. Provocations and attacks also continue, as Russian soldiers have
mined the main gas pipeline in the region and threatened locals with weapons.
Russian soldiers are also storming at the moment Ukrainian military base close to
the military airport in Belbek. All the strategic object on the Peninsula are
being controlled by the Russian troops, as local and Ukrainian media are being
cut and replaced by the Russian outlets. There are also many Russian citizens
presented in the region now provoking and trying to demonstrate “wide support”
of Russia and Russian invasion.
As for the Crimean separatist and illegitimate government, Ukrainian
Court and General Prosecution have already issued arrest warrants against the
pro-Russian Head of Crimean Parliament Mr. Konstantinov and self-proclaimed
Prime Minister Mr. Aksyonov. Crimean Parliament has voted on Thursday for
separation of Crimea from Ukraine and joining Russian Federation and set the
referendum on this issue on 16 March, despite the total illegitimacy of this
referendum and foreign military presence in Ukraine.
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| Russian Parliament's Upper House head Matvienko and Crimean separatist head of Parliament Konstantinov (Image: BBC) |
Russian side has supported this move and welcomed delegation of
Ukrainian separatist MPs from Crimean Parliament led by Konstantinov and
Aksyonov in Moscow, during the meeting of Russian Parliament’s Upper House.
Valentina Matvienko, Head of Upper House of Russian Parliament, has declared
that Russian Parliament is ready to vote for annexing of Crimea and joining
Russia and claimed that the referendum is legitimate and will express the legal
right of people for their national identification and totally corresponds with
Ukrainian and international law. Mrs. Matvienko though seems to forget that
separation of the territory of an independent and sovereign state and violation
of its territorial integrity contradicts all the terms of international law and
Ukrainian Constitution, and that Ukrainian law doesn’t allow holding a regional
referendum on the issues of the constitutional and law status of Ukrainian
regions. In addition to that, referendum is forbidden during the military
occupation. Matvienko though stated that Russian Parliament will support this
decision and is working on the draft law regulating simplified and fast
procedure of accession of the foreign territories to Russian Federation.
Aksyonov and Konstantinov in their turn have assured Russian government
that they will make everything possible for not only Crimean, but the
all-Ukrainian annexing to Russia and to “get rid of Western influence and
fascism”.
Crimean Parliament has presented on Friday the ballots prepared for the
referendum. The ballots ironically do not give the possibility to answer “no”.
Ukrainian Central Electoral Commission though has officially frozen the process
of preparation for the referendum and closed the national lists of eligible
voters. High Constitutional Court in its turn is reviewing the issue of
legitimacy of Crimean Referendum and Crimean self-proclaimed puppet government,
governed from Moscow.
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| Unarmed Ukrainian soldiers approcahing Russian block post in Crimea (Image: BBC) |
Political experts including Russian think that rapid developments and
decisions of Crimean government and Russia as well, such as a new draft law
about accession of foreign territories to Russia, indicates their worries
regarding the situation in Crimea, that is changing fast. Ukrainian
intelligence service has issued arrest warrants for pro-Russian Aksyonov and
Konstantinov and investigates currently the situation with the Russian troops
in Crimea, Ukrainian Armed Forces have mobilized and continue to stand against
Russian attacks and provocations, international community increases its
pressure. There is also a serious threat of Russian political and economic
isolation, thus, Russian tries to act as fast as possible. MPs from Russian
Parliament understand that the results of the Crimean referendum won’t be
recognized by any country, as even Russian aides Belarus and Kazakhstan didn’t’
support Putins’ policies in Ukraine and intervention and refused to send their
observers for the referendum.
Meanwhile, 47 European countries have expressed their string
condemnation of Russian military invasion in Ukraine and its policies. Committee
of European Commission has issued a Resolution condemning Putin’s aggression in
Crimea and demanding Russian to withdraw the troops and de-escalate situation.
Sanctions could be imposed against Russia in case there will be no
de-escalation.
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| Aeseniy Yatsenyuk during the Summit in Brussels (Image: Deutsche Welle) |
USA has even more harsh tone, as Barak Obama has delivered a special
statement over the situation in Ukraine and issued a decree allowing imposing
sanctions against some persons and organizations violating Ukrainian borders,
territorial integrity, and sovereignty and democratic process. These sanctions
could be imposed against Russian and Ukrainian (Crimean) officials. US has
already imposed visa restrictions for some Russian and Crimea officials. Canada
in its turn has imposed addressed sanctions against Russian officials as well.
OSCE mission representative and Commissioner for the national minorities
rights and affairs Astrid Thors, who has visited Kyiv and Crime and examined
the situation, has issued a statement regarding the worrying and dangerous
situation in Crimea, as Ukrainian and native Crimean Tatar communities could be
threatened by the recent events in Crimea, while she didn’t find any violations
of Russian and Russian-speaking citizen either in Crimea, or in Kyiv and other region
of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Russian leadership after
an extraordinary Summit of EU to respect Ukrainian territorial integrity and
sovereignty and to withdraw the troops. She also stated that EU is ready to
sign Association Agreement with Ukraine over the coming days or weeks. The “trade
part” could be signed a little bit later, as it requires some bilateral talks
and consultations. Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has declared
after his visit to Brussels, that EU unilaterally opens free trade zone for
Ukraine and is also ready to support Ukrainian economy with financial aid.
Russian in its turn has officially declared about cutting all the diplomatic relationships with Ukraine as Moscow refuses to recognize new Ukrainian government, according to Valeriy Churkin, Russian representative in UN.
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