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| Russian military troops in Ukrainian Crimea (Image: Bloomberg) |
Despite an increasing international pressure and calls of Western
countries to withdraw Russian troops from Crimea immediately, Russian military
remains in Crimea and the numbers of the troops are reportedly increasing on
the borders with Ukraine, close to Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Chernigiv
regions. Several provocations of Russian soldiers occurred again during the
night, but Ukrainian soldiers stand and refuse to give up arms and are ready to
protect Ukraine till the end, if there will be an assault. Till now Ukrainian
soldiers are demonstrating an incredible patience and self-restraint despite
the provocations and assaults, and this position prevents the beginning of the
armed conflict in the region, as Russian side waits for the first shot from
Ukrainian side to justify its invasion.
Massive rallies supporting integrity and unity of Ukraine and demanding
immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine have been held in
several Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, including the cities in Eastern and
Southern Ukraine. Thus, Donetsk has gathered more than 2 thousand protesters,
what is unexpected for this city.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian High Constitutional Court has declared in Tuesday
its decision regarding the decisions about the regional referendum to be held
in Crimea and appointment of the new Cabinet of Ministers of Crimea with the
Prime Minister Mr. Aksyonov. These decisions were declared to be illegitimate,
and the regional referendum in Crimea is illegitimate as well, as there is no
Referendum law in Ukraine, and there is only the possibility of the national
Referendum.
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| USA State Secretary John Kerry and Ukrainian acting President Oleksandr Turchinov and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kyiv (Image: The Guardian) |
USA Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Kyiv on Tuesday, meeting
with the acting President Oleksandr Turchinov and Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk to discuss the situation in Ukraine and to find the ways to resolve
it. USA Administration supports Ukraine and its territorial integrity and
sovereignty and supports Ukrainians on their path to democratic and better
society and European values and condemns Russian invasion, calling for Russian
President Putin to immediately withdraw the troops from the country and to
de-escalate the conflict, or Russia risks to become politically isolated and
facing economic sanctions.
In addition to that John Kerry stated that USA is ready to support Ukrainian
economy financially, along with IMF and EU financial aids expected to be sent
to Ukraine.
European Unit in its turn will hold an extraordinary Summit in Vienna on
6 March, in order to discuss the situation and crisis in Ukraine and to mediate
in the resolving of the crisis. Thursday is also a deadline for Russia to
de-escalate situation in Crimea and remove the troops, or EU will impose
sanctions against Russia and its officials, according to the EU
representatives.
OSCE will also send a special group of military experts to Ukraine to
investigate the case and study the situation.
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| US John Kerry in Kyiv Maidan, commemorating the slain protesters, during his Tuesday's visit to Kyiv (Image: Kyiv Post) |
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has held press conference on
Ukrainian issue and Crimean crisis on Tuesday. First of all Mr. Putin assured
that Yanukovich is alive and his health is good, and that he personally saw him
several days ago (in the light of the recent rumors about Yanukovich’s alleged
death). He also added that Victor Yanukovich has no political future, but
Russia considers him being a legitimate Ukrainian President and refuses to
recognize the current interim government. Putin stated that Yanukovich’s life
was under the threat, that’s why Russia gave him political asylum. As for
Crimea, Putin and his government somehow consider the new Cabinet of Ministers
and self-proclaimed Prime Minister Aksyonov along with the decisions of
Parliament about the referendum, happened with violations and without quorum,
being legitimate.
Vladimir Putin has also denied Russian military presence in Crimea and
claimed that these are local residents organized in the self-defense units to
protect their land. At the same time he stated that there is no need of
deploying additional armed forces to the Southern and Eastern Ukrainian
regions, contradicting himself and actually saying that Russian military is
present in Ukraine.
Putin accused Ukrainian current government of attempting the coup and
stated that this authority is not legitimate, and accused also the Western
countries of supporting the coup. He also said that the “new state” was formed
as result of the revolution in Ukraine, and Russia didn’t sign any treaties
with this “new state”, so Russia has no obligations, including the 1997
agreements and 1994 Budapest Pact. De facto, Putin refused to respect and
guarantee territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. But at the same
time, despite the fact, that Russia has no treaties and relationships with this
“new Ukraine”, according to Putin, Ukrainian government must somehow pay Russia
$ 2 billion for the Gazprom contracts.
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| US John Kerry and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov (Image: Kyiv Post) |
As for the protests and Euromaidan, Putin repeated again his common
these that these protests have been prepared and sponsored by the Western
countries, and “fighters” presented in Maidan have been trained in Poland and
Lithuania, at the special bases. Poland and Lithuania Ministries of Foreign
Affairs both were outraged by this statement of Putin and issued their notes.
As for the military operation and its possibility, Putin has stated that
Russia doesn’t want to fight with Ukraine, but in case the situation will
worsen and there will be chaos and danger for the Russians living in Ukraine
and Russian-speaking citizens, the troops could be deployed. Putin also stated
that he has no intentions of accession of Crimea or other Ukrainian
territories, unless the people of these regions will express such a will
through the referendum.
In general, Putin’s press conference was extremely strange and confusing
and it highlighted again the doubts regarding Putin’s “normality”. It’s worth
mentioning, that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said after the phone talk
with Putin several days ago, that he has totally lost connection with reality
and is inadequate. Thus, the situation in Crimea remains tense, and Russian
troops aren’t being withdrawn, continuing to block Ukrainian military bases and
controlling all the strategic objects of the Peninsula.
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| Vladimir Putin, Russian President (Image: Wikipedia) |
However, under an increasing international pressure some talks and
consultations between Russia and Ukraine have already started, declared
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Tuesday. These are talks on the
level of the ministers and they aren’t that active at the moment, but this is
already a big effort, said Mr. Yatsenyuk. Ukrainian government sated Ukraine is
ready for the new type of cooperation and relationships with Russia, but only
if Russia will respect Ukrainian territorial integrity, borders, sovereignty
and the right to independently resolve its internal issues.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian recently released ex-Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko, who is expected to head to Germany for the medical treatment this
weekend, has made an official statement regarding the situation in Ukraine and
the Crimean crisis and declared, that Constitutional reform and signing of the
Association Agreement with EU should be a priority for the new Ukrainian
government. In addition to that she stated that Russian Black Sea Fleet,
stationed in Ukraine, must be withdrawn due to Russian violations of the
treaties, and Kharkiv agreements, signed in the time of Yanukovich and
prolonging the presence of Russian fleet in Crimea till 2042, should be also
denounced.
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