Live - UN security council to meet over Ukraine crisis - UN security council in emergency meeting after Russian parliament approves use of military against Ukraine- live updates
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Russian parliament endorses Putin's request to use military force as tensions mount
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“There are many mentions of the Charge
of the Light Brigade which took place in 1854 during the Crimean War.
Less well remembered is the Thin Red Line,…”
Latest developments
A Ukrainian soldier tries to persuade
Russian troops to move away from a Ukrainian military base in Balaklava,
Crimea on Saturday. Photograph: ANTON PEDKO/EPA
Live
There are many mentions of the Charge of the Light Brigade which
took place in 1854 during the Crimean War. Less well remembered is the
Thin Red Line, when the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders dispersed a
Russian cavalry charge at Balaclava. You can read about both in George
McDonald Fraser’s Flash at the Charge or the latter here.
Here’s an interesting graphic on the statistics of Ukraine and Russia.
According to the BBC, Refat Chubarov, the head of the Crimean
Tatar Majlis (assembly) says he is calling on Tatars to stay at home and
not form resistance units. “Literally hours remain until catastrophe,”
he said to the Gazprom-owned Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy. Tatars make up about 12 percent of Crimea’s population and
have sided with the anti-Yanukovych protesters - now government - in
Kiev.
Updated
After a day of escalating rhetoric and activity, a Kremlin spokesman
says that Russia hopes there will be no further escalation and that
Putin has not yet decided if he will send troops into Ukraine, Reuters
reports.
Hague summons Russian ambassador
William Hague, the foreign secretary, has said that Russian action
in Ukraine is grave threat to sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity of Ukraine.
He has also summoned the Russian ambassador to express his grave concerns.
Updated
This a great photograph from Kharkiv but the crowds on the square below do not look immense for a city of 1.5 million.
One of the nationalist groups that were part of the demonstrations
against former president Viktor Yanukovych has called on its members to
mobilise and arm themselves.
According to Ukrainian Pravda, Sector Right called on all its units to mobilise.
This is their statement:
“Being aware of all the dangers that are looming over the Ukrainian
state, the headquarters of the Right Sector orderall its units to mobilise and arm, and depending on the specific
situation to coordinate with the armed forces. We remind all citizens of Ukraine regardless of nationality (including
Russians ) that our struggle is anti-imperial , not Russophobe . Russian
empire will be destroyed. Urge Resistance Movement Caucasus and all
liberation movements in Russia to step up their activities.”
Emergency UN security council meeting
The U.N. Security Council will hold an urgent meeting on the crisis
in Ukraine on Saturday after Russia announced plans to send armed forces
into the autonomous Crimea region of the former Soviet republic. A
diplomat from Luxembourg, president of the 15-nation council this month,
said the meeting would take place at 2:00 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) and was
being convened at the request of Britain.
Reuters
Updated
Putin’s desire to re-build the Soviet Union as a colonial power were
seen as rhetoric until now, argues his biographer Masha Gessen. Now
they realise he is serious and this will mean Russian aggression abroad
and repression at home.
Read her Observer piece here.
Presidential candidate calls for mobilisation
Vitaly Klitschko called on Saturday for a “general mobilisation”
following Russian parliament’s decision to approve deploying troops in
Ukraine’s Crimea region. “Klitschko calls for a declaration on a general mobilisation,” his party UDAR (Punch) said in a statement.
Klitschko plans to run for election for president on May 25.
Updated
Further to the image of a bloodied protester in Kharkiv.
The federal council has now asked Putin to withdraw the Russian
ambassador to the United States while other government figures use
calmer rhetoric, stating the proposal to use Russian troops may not be
used immediately.
Russia Today reports that 97 people have been injured in clashes between anti- and pro-Maidan demonstrators in Kharkov, citing Itar-Tass news agency.
Some of the latest images to arrive from Ukraine
An officer of the former Ukrainian riot
police 'Bercut' shows his new Russian passport at Russian Consulate in
Simferopol on Saturday. Photograph: ARTUR SHVARTS/EPAA wounded pro-Western activist sits after
clashes with pro-Russia activists at the local administration building
in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday. Photograph: Olga
Ivashchenko/APA Ukrainian soldier asks Russian soldiers to
go move away from a Ukrainian military base in Balaklava, Crimea on
Saturday. Photograph: ANTON PEDKO/EPA
The federation council has now approved Putin’s request to use armed force in Ukraine.
CNN are showing images of Russian tanks on the move in Crimea. CNN broadcast images of Russian tanks on the move in Sevastopol Photograph: /CNN
Shaun Walker is listening to the debate
You spend years trying to
dissuade people to talk in Cold War stereotypes and then you watch a
parliament session like this. No words.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 1, 2014
Reuters have reported that Ukraine’s acting president has called an emergency meeting of security chiefs on Saturday. Oleksander
Turchinov summoned his Security Council after Russian President
Vladimir Putin sought parliamentary approval to deploy Russian forces in
the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
According to Russia Today, the international affairs committee of the upper house, the federation council has
recommended senators approve deploying Russian troops to Ukraine.
The Russian upper house has not yet voted on Putin’s proposal although all the speeches made so far are supportive.
The upper house of the Russian parliament unanimously approved
President Putin’s request to use armed forces in defence of Russians and
Russian interests, anywhere in the territory of Ukraine.
Summary
Putin ask for right to use armed forces in Ukraine.
Ukrainians accuse Russia of refusing dialogue.
European foreign ministers urge Russia to respect sovereignty of Ukraine and help reduce tension.
Pro-Russian demonstrations take place in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and other towns.
Reports of Russian troops attempting to take Ukrainian bases in Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the upper house of
parliament to approve sending armed forces to Ukraine’s Crimea region,
the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. “In connection with the
extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens
of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, and the personnel of the
armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory (in the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea) ... I submit a proposal on using the
armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine until
the normalisation of the socio-political situation in the that
country,” the statement said.
Reuters
Pictures suggest Russian army moving into Crimean city of Balaclava
where there have been reports of Russian troops trying to take a naval
base.
According to Interfax, there was also a pro-Russian demonstration in
Odessa with between 5,000 to 20,000 participants, some armed with
clubs.
Ukraine has accused Russia of refusing to hold talks with Ukraine.
Ukraine had asked for consultations with Moscow after accusing it of
deploying its military in the Crimea region, according to Reuters. “We are very worried about today’s information that Russia has refused to take part,” said foreign minister Andrij Deshchitsya.
Football club ban
Ukrainian Pravda report that Ukrainian football clubs could be
banned from international competitions after the Ukrainian Football
Union was taken over by a militia, believed to be connected to Dynamo
Kiev.
Political organisations are banned from interfering with the affairs of football according to Fifa and Uefa regulations.
Updated
Unian news agency report dozens of injuries
in Kharkiv after a car drove into “Euromaidan” demonstrators who were
opposing pro-Russian demonstrators outside the parliament.
It’s difficult to gauge what has happened in Kharhiv and Donestsk.
Some commentators have posted scenes of an empty square in Donetsk,
suggesting the demonstrators were only paid for short time.
Reuters and other agencies reporting
UKRAINE’S ACTING PRESIDENT SIGNS DECREE RULING THAT APPOINTMENT OF PRO-RUSSIA PREMIER IN CRIMEA IS ILLEGAL
Crimean police have rejected the claim made by the Russian foreign ministry in Russia Today that
troops sent by Kiev tried to capture the interior ministry in
Semferopol. According to Unian news agency, there was no shooting or
clashes of any kind nor any attempt to blockade the building.
Updated
Reuters report that Ukraine is unlikely to receive financial
assistance from the International Monetary Fund before April according
to Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak.
Ukraine, which
faces a further $6 billion in foreign debt payments this year, has asked
the IMF for financial assistance of at least $15 billion. An IMF team
is expected in Kiev next week.
People now storming into Kharkov provincial government building. One of most pro-Russian eastern provinces
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 1, 2014
According to various Russian and Ukrainian reports, the crisis is
spreading from Crimea to other parts of the Ukraine. There are reports
that pro-Russian demonstrators in Donestsk and Kharkiv have attempted to
take parliament buildings.
Raid on naval base
Kiev-based Unian report some more worrying developments.
The
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that about 300 soldiers are
trying to capture a Sevastopol naval bases. Ukrainian ships have ordered
to sea.
It is not clear if weapons are being fired or if there are any injuries.
Updated
Diplomatic activity
Following the statement of Fabius, the German and British foreign ministers have weighed in.
German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned on Saturday that
developments in Ukraine over the past few hours were dangerous and urged
Russia to explain its intentions regarding its troops in the Crimea
region.
“The situation in Crimea in particular has become
considerably more acute. Whoever pours more oil onto the flames now,
with words or actions, is consciously aiming for further escalation of
the situation. Everything Russia does in Crimea must be in keeping with
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and treaties on
Russia’s Black Sea fleet. We are holding the Russian government to its
public statements on this. And this entails also that Russia provides
without delay complete transparency over the movements of its troops in
Crimea, as well as its goals and intentions behind these.”
William
Hague, the British foreign secretary, has spoken to Sergei Lavrov, his
Russian counterpart and urged Russia to respect Ukrainian sovereignty
and help de-escalate the situation.
Updated
Some images from Ukraine today. Life goes on. A newly married couple kiss
under the statue of Lenin in Simferopol on Saturday. Photograph: DAVID
MDZINARISHVILI/REUTERSDemonstrators in Independence Square in Kiev
hold placards, "Crimea is Ukraine" during a rally on Saturday.
Photograph: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, has said it is
concerned about the reports of troop movements and urged all sides in
Crimea to refrain from acts that could increase tension.
In spite of the claims of normality, Kiev’s Unian agency report that
armed have taken over the council of trade unions in Simferopol which
is close to the government building.
Pravda reports that the speaker of the supreme council of Crimea
Vladimir Konstantinov has said that the situation in Crimea will be
normalised and guards will leave the boundaries of the parliament.
Konstantinov said that barricades will be dismantled and he intended to address issues such as the economy, wages and pensions.
In Moscow, Reuters reports that the Duma, has asked President
Vladimir Putin to take measures to stabilise the situation in Ukraine’s
Crimea.
Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the Duma, said “The Duma
Council adopted an appeal to the president of Russia, in which
parliamentarians are calling on the president to take measures to
stabilise the situation in Crimea and use all available means to protect
the people of Crimea from tyranny and violence.”
I have just spoken to Harriet Salem, our correspondent in Simferopol
in Crimea, who is currently in a local McDonalds availing herself of
the free wi-fi.
I have just
travelled from Sevastopol to Simferopol. There was little sign of
tension. Mostly people are just going about their business. There were
blockades outside of Sevastopol manned by armed civilians with
motorbikes parked nearby but there was no problem passing through.
Ukraine to lose Russian gas discount
Here’s more from Reuters on Gazprom.
Ukraine
may lose a discount to the gas price it now pays to Russia’s state gas
company Gazprom due to Kiev’s outstanding gas debt, Gazprom spokesman
Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters on Saturday. In December, Russia
agreed to reduce gas prices for Kiev by about a third, to $268.50 per
1,000 cubic metres from around $400 which Ukraine had paid since 2009,
after ousted President Viktor Yanukovich spurned an EU trade deal in
favour of closer ties to Moscow. Kupriyanov said Ukraine’s outstanding gas debt stood at $1.55 billion for 2013 and gas deliveries so far this year. “It
seems that with such gas payments and fulfilment of its obligations
Ukraine may not keep its current gas discount. The gas discount
agreement assumed full and timely payment,” he said. The deal allowed for the price to be revised quarterly between the 5th and 10th day of the first month every quarter.
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