DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press= KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pressed hard
Monday for Ukrainian politicians to return to the Feb. 21 agreement that
promised to create a new unity government which would rule until an
early election no later than December.
But the proposal seemed to be a non-starter as diplomats met in
Brussels, Kiev and Geneva and warnings about the dangers of Russia's
military actions were issued from a host of European capitals.
On the ground, Russian troops controlled all Ukrainian border
posts Monday in Crimea, as well as all military facilities and a key
ferry terminal, cementing their stranglehold on the strategic Ukrainian
peninsula.
They also demanded that the crew of two Ukrainian warships
immediately surrender or be stormed and seized, according to Maksim
Prauta, the Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman.
Four Russian navy ships in Sevastopol's harbor were blocking
Ukraine's anti-submarine warship Ternopil and the command ship
Slavutych, waiting for their answers, he said.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at
U.N. meetings in Geneva, explained the reasoning behind Russia's
military invasion of Crimea.
"This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life," he said.
There have been no reports, however, of any hostilities toward
Russian-speakers in Ukraine during the country's four months of
political upheaval.
Tension between Ukraine and Moscow rose sharply after President
Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out by a protest movement made up of people
who wanted closer ties with the European Union, more democracy and less
corruption. Yanukovych fled to Russia last month after more than 80
demonstrators were killed — mostly by police — near Kiev's central
square but insists he is still president.
In Kiev, Ukraine's new prime minister admitted his country had
"no military options on the table" to reverse Russia's military move
into its Crimea region, where Ukraine's military admitted that
pro-Russian troops have surrounded or taken over "practically all" its
military facilities.
While Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk appealed Monday for
outside help and insisted that Crimea still remained part of his
country, European foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on a joint
response to Russia's military move that could include economic
sanctions. But there was no immediate response to the Russian statement,
which would void the new government that Ukraine installed just last
week.
"Any attempt of Russia to grab Crimea will have no success at
all. Give us some time," Yatsenyuk said at a news conference with
British Foreign Secretary William Hague in Kiev.
But he added that "for today" there were "no military options on
the table." He said his country was "urgently" asking for economic and
political support from other countries.
"Crisis diplomacy is not a weakness, but it is now more important
than ever for us not to fall into the abyss of a military escalation,"
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Brussels.
In the meantime, Russian forces were clearly in charge in Crimea,
home to 2 million mostly Russian-speaking people and landlord for
Russia's critical Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol.
In addition to seizing barracks and border posts, troops also
controlled a ferry terminal in the Ukrainian city of Kerch, just 20
kilometers (12 miles) across the water from Russia. That intensified
fears in Kiev that Moscow will send even more troops into the peninsula
via that route.
The soldiers at the terminal refused to identify themselves
Monday, but they spoke Russian and their vehicles had Russian license
plates.
Border guard spokesman Sergei Astakhov said the Russians were
demanding that Ukrainian soldiers and guards transfer their allegiance
to Crimea's new pro-Russian local government.
"The Russians are behaving very aggressively, they came in by
breaking down doors, knocking out windows, cutting off every
communication," he said.
He said four Russian military ships, 13 helicopters and 8
transport planes had arrived in Crimea in violation of agreements that
permit Russian to keep its naval base at Sevastopol.
Now, fears in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and beyond are that
Russia might seek to expand its control by targeting and seizing other
parts of Ukraine, especially in its pro-Russian east.
"The world cannot just allow this to happen," Hague said, but he
ruled out any military action. "The U.K is not discussing military
options. Our concentration is on diplomatic and economic pressure."
Ukraine is also struggling on the financial front. The treasury
is almost empty and its currency is under pressure after years of
running large deficits. The International Monetary Fund said a
fact-finding mission would visit Ukraine starting Tuesday for 10 days.
Ukraine has asked the IMF for rescue loans and says it needs $35 billion
to pay its bills over the next two years.
Market reaction to the Russian invasion of Crimea was immediate
Monday. In European trading, gold and oil rose while the euro and stock
markets fell. The greatest impact was felt in Moscow, where the main
RTS index was down 12 percent at 1,115 and the dollar spiked to an
all-time high of 37 rubles.
Russia's central bank hiked its main interest rate 1.5 percentage points Monday to 7 percent, trying to stem financial outflows.
Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, was also big loser, its share
price down 13 percent as investors worried about how it would get its
gas to Europe if hostilities kept up, since much of it goes through
Ukrainian pipelines.
Outrage over Russia's military moves has mounted in world
capitals, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calling on Russian
President Vladimir Putin to pull back from "an incredible act of
aggression." Kerry is to travel to Ukraine on Tuesday.
Putin has rejected calls from the West, insisting that Russia has
a right to protect its interests and those of Russian-speakers anywhere
in Ukraine. His confidence is matched by the knowledge that Ukraine's
46 million people have divided loyalties — while much of western
Ukraine wants closer ties with the 28-nation European Union, its eastern
and southern regions like Crimea look to Russia for support and trade.
Faced with the Russian threat, Ukraine's new government has moved
to consolidate its authority, naming new regional governors in the
pro-Russia east, enlisting the support of the country's wealthy
businessmen and dismissing the head of the country's navy after he
declared allegiance to the pro-Russian government in Crimea.
NATO held an emergency meeting in Brussels and the U.S., France
and Britain debated the possibility of boycotting the next Group of
Eight economic summit, to be held in June in Sochi, the host of Russia's
successful Winter Olympics.
---
Bennet reported from Kerch, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau from Kiev,
Raf Casert and Juergen Baetz from Brussels and Danica Kirka in London
contributed to this report.
No ultimatum, says the Russian defence ministry, via Vedemosti.
A snap partial translation:
Russia’s defence ministry has denied information that they have given Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum.
An official defence ministry called the original agency
statement about the ultimatum “complete nonsense”, and said no such
ultimatum had been given to the Ukrainian military in Crimea.
Hawkish Republican senator John McCain
blamed what he called the “feckless foreign policy” of the
Obama administration as a partial cause of events in the Ukraine
during a speech to lobbyists at the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee in Washington on Monday, Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) reports:
“What happens in Ukraine is directly
related to what happens in the Middle East,” he said, pointing
Obama’s failure to take military action in Syria and relaxation of
sanctions against Iran as signs of weakness seized on by Putin.
The Arizona senator and former
presidential candidate said president Obama “believes the Cold
War is over - that’s fine, it’s over - but Putin doesn’t believe it’s
over”.
McCain also claimed Putin was deliberately waiting
until the end of the Olympics to crack down on Ukraine dissent.
“The people went out by the hundreds
of thousands and said they did not want to be part of Putin’s Russia
and that’s what it’s all about, and now immediately after the Sochi
games we see the occupation of Crimea,” he told the Aipac
conference.
Updated
Russia has requested a third emergency meeting of the UN security council over
the crisis in Ukraine. The meeting is scheduled to begin in about four
hours, according to a Luxembourg diplomat who spoke with Reuters:
The council met on Friday and Saturday to discuss the crisis in
eastern Ukraine but took no formal action, as expected. Both meetings
highlighted the deep divisions between the United States and other
Western nations and Russia, which has a major Black Sea naval base in
the Crimea region.
Updated
German chancellor Angela Merkel told US president Barack Obama that she thought Russian president Vladimir Putin may be “in another world.”
“She
was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call
said. ‘In another world,’ she said,” the New York Times reported.
The Guardian’s Ian Traynor and Patrick Wintour write:
Read our latest news story on diplomatic maneuvering here.
The Russian foreign ministry warns that NATO criticism of Russia “will not help stabilise the situation in Ukraine.”
“We believe that such a position will not help stabilise the
situation in Ukraine and only encourages those forces that would like to
use the current events to achieve their irresponsible political goals,”
the Russian foreign ministry said, according to Reuters.
Here’s what Nato said Sunday:
In part:
The North Atlantic Council
condemns the Russian Federation’s military escalation in Crimea and
expresses its grave concern regarding the authorisation by the Russian
Parliament to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the
territory of Ukraine.
US vice president Joe Biden and Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev have spoken by phone, Interfax reports.
Medvedev spoke about a need “to protect” Russians in Ukraine, Reuters quotes Medvedev spokeswoman Natalya Timakova as saying:
Medvedev “declared that it is necessary to protect the interests of
all Ukrainian citizens, including residents of Crimea, and citizens of
Russia who are located in Ukraine.”
UPDATE: Here now is the view on that conversation from the US said, from a White House spokesman via Reuters. In this version, Biden urged Russia to pull its forces back from Ukraine:
“The
Vice President urged Russia to pull back its forces, support the
immediate deployment of international monitors to Ukraine, and begin a
meaningful political dialogue with the Ukrainian government,” the White
House said in a statement released later on Monday.
He is not that senior but says he’s on a base right now and neither he
nor the base commanders have heard anything of the sort. He said: “It’s
probably another red herring to stir up trouble.”
UPDATE: Oksana Grytsenko
called a Ukrainian navy spokesman, who told her “as far as I know” an
ultimatum “has been voiced”, but he referred to a different time for the
ultimatum than originally reported by Interfax, which – conflicting
times for the assigned zero-hour – would seem to undercut the whole
point of an ultimatum. Oksana reports for the Guardian:
I
spoke to Oleg Chubuk, spokesman of Ukraine’s naval forces. “As far as I
know, the ultimatum has been voiced for 18 p.m., with a demand that
Ukraine’s soldiers surrender arms,” he said, adding that the timing
could have changed. “Ukraine’s sailors don’t yield the provocations,
guns are under control,” he said.
Asked how would they react to
“a real storm”, Chubuk said “they must act according to statute”,
meaning defend their stations. But he hoped the storm would not happen.
Updated
European Union foreign ministers have agreed to suspend talks with
Russia on visa issues because of Russia’s seizure of Crimea, a draft of a
statement to be issued later on Monday said, Reuters reports.
Russia
and the European Union have been discussing visa cooperation since
2007, with Russia keen to have visa-free access to the EU’s member
states. It is an issue raised at nearly every meeting between Moscow and
Brussels.
“The EU has decided to suspend bilateral talks with
Russian authorities on visa matters, as well as on the new agreement,” a
draft of statement to be issued by EU foreign ministers said.
Interfax is quoting a Ukrainian defence ministry source as saying
the Russian fleet has given Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 3am GMT to
surrender or face “storm”.
This needs to be treated with caution given the only source is an unnamed official.
UPDATE: The Russian defence ministry denies any such ultimatum.
From Reuters:
The ultimatum, Interfax said, was issued by Alexander Vitko, the fleet’s commander.
The
ministry did not immediately confirm the report and there was no
immediate comment by the Black Sea Fleet, which has a base in Crimea,
where Russian forces are in control.
“If they do not surrender
before 5 am tomorrow, a real assault will be started against units and
divisions of the armed forces across Crimea,” the agency quoted the
ministry source as saying.
Updated
The people of Crimea are to be asked in a referendum whether Crimea
should move on to Moscow time, the Russian state news agency Itar Tass
is reporting, citing Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir
Konstantinov. An independence referendum is scheduled for 30 March.
Moscow has sharply criticised western members of the G8 major
industrialised nations for suspending preparations for a G8 summit
scheduled to be held in the Russian city of Sochi in June over the
crisis in Ukraine, Reuters reports:
The
decision to suspend preparatory work for the summit in the Black Sea
resort city of Sochi “has no grounds” and “damages not only the
countries of the group of Eight but also the whole international
community,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Video has been posted online of the extraordinary meeting
at which Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky, who defected to the
Russian-supported Crimean authorities, one day after being appointed
Ukrainian navy commander-in-chief, tried unsuccessfully to persuade
other officers to follow in his footsteps. At the meeting he was
denounced as a traitor by his replacement as navy chief commander,
Serhiy Haiduk.
Journalist Graham Phillips is in Odessa, where pro-Russian
demonstrators have surrounded the city hall. But they have been
confronted by people supporting the Kiev government.
The Russian foreign ministry has said that recent remarks by US
secretary of state John Kerry contained threats against Russia and were
“unacceptable” (via Reuters).
On Sunday, Kerry condemned what he called Russia’s “incredible act of aggression”
in Ukraine after Russian forces took control of the Crimea region and
parliament gave President Vladimir Putin consent to send the military
into Ukraine.
Svetlana
Goncharova, 50, who works as a librarian at the Ukrainian base at
Perevalnoye, said she was there in the hope that her presence would
prevent violence.
“We are standing here with our boys. The
situation is beyond all bounds,” she said. “Maybe if they see that
civilians are standing here with the men, no one will raise weapons.”
...
“Half of us are Russians here. My grandfather was a Soviet
army officer, my father was a colonel, my husband is a retired Ukrainian
officer - we are all ex-military, our fate is all intertwined. They are
welcome as guests, but when they came to us in army boots, it angers
us,” said Goncharova.
Her words immediately sparked objections
from some of the other women, who defended the Russians. “They don’t
upset us. They are here to protect us. They are standing here
peacefully,” said Irina Fedusova.
“We don’t want a second
‘Maidan’ like Kiev,” she said of the protest movement that toppled the
pro-Russia president, named after Kiev’s central Independence Square.
“We won’t allow it ... We want Crimea to decide its own fate and not for
anyone to dictate our fate.”
Ukrainian soldiers (L) stand guard behind a
gate as armed men in military uniform, believed to be Russian soldiers,
stand outside the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village
of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, Ukraine, 3 March 2014. Photograph:
Max
Here are some images from today from Ukrainian military bases where Russian troops are present.
European Union foreign ministers will push on Monday for high-level
mediation to resolve the crisis over Russia’s invasion of Crimea, while
threatening the possibility of sanctions if Russia does not back down, Reuters reports:
In emergency talks convened after Russian President Vladimir Putin
seized the Crimean peninsula and said he had the right to invade
Ukraine, ministers will try to strike a balance between pressure on
Moscow and finding a way to calm the situation.
Germany, France
and Britain, the EU’s most-powerful nations, are all advocating
mediation to resolve the crisis, possibly via the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, while not ruling out economic
measures if Moscow does not cooperate.
“Crisis diplomacy is not a
weakness but it will be more important than ever to not fall into the
abyss of military escalation,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier told reporters as he arrived for the talks in Brussels.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow has full details on his UK politics blog of the government briefing on Ukraine.
A few key points are: • Military action was ruled out.
•
The government spokesman suggested that Britain could support the
sending of an
international fact-finding mission, or a contact group, to Ukraine.
There have been suggestions that the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe could play a role, he said. Germany is very keen on a contact group being established
and Russian president Vladimir Putin was reportedly receptive to the
idea when asked about it by German chancellor Angela Merkel.
• Downing Street rejected suggestions that Britain
was being less belligerent than the US because of the fear that Russia
could retaliate by cutting off gas supplies to Europe.
Updated
Ukrainian soldiers talk with military
personnel standing guard outside their base in Perevelnoye. Photograph:
Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
Updated
A Reuters reporter in a press centre on the fourth floor of the
regional government building in east Ukraine’s city of Donetsk said
protesters have seized the first floor but were unable to go higher
because lifts were disabled and stairwell doors shut.
The
11-storey building has been flying the Russian flag, rather than the
Ukrainian flag, for three days, with demonstrators carrying Russian
flags staging rallies outside.
This Guardian video shows the UK foreign secretary, William Hague, laying a
bouquet of flowers at Kiev’s Independence Square, where slain
demonstrators are being commemorated.
Updated
There are reports of pro-Russian protesters storming government buildings in Donetsk (confirmed by Reuters) and Odessa.
The Guardian’s chief political correspondent, Nick Watt, says that
David Cameron will outline a range of economic sanctions against Russia,
including slowing down visas for Russian business people, at a meeting
of the UK national security council this afternoon.
A unit of pro-Russian volunteers outside a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Updated
The United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon said he will ask
Russia, via foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, to refrain from any acts or
rhetoric that would further escalate the crisis in Ukraine and instead
seek dialogue with authorities in Kiev. He added that his deputy would
“convey the same message to Ukrainian authorities”.
Ban told a news conference in Geneva shortly before holding talks with Lavrov:
It
is now of utmost importance to restore calm and to de-escalate tensions
immediately through dialogue. I will urge that the Russian Federation
refrain from any acts and rhetoric that could further escalate the
situation and instead to engage constructively and through peaceful
means with Ukraine.
Updated
Pro-Russian forces have taken over a Ukrainian coastguard base in Baklava. Baklava coastguard base
The Ukrainian defence ministry says that Russian fighter jets violated its airspace during the night (via Reuters).
It
says Ukrainian forces scrambled a Sukhoi SU-27 interceptor aircraft,
preventing any “provocative actions” during two violations of its
airspace.
Updated
Here are some more details of that extraordinary meeting where the
recently appointed Ukrainian navy commander-in-chief, Rear Admiral Denis
Berezovsky, who announced on Sunday that he was defecting to the
Russian-supported Crimean authorities, tried to persuade other officers
to defect. Shaun Walker, in Simferopol, and Graham Stack, in Sevastopol , writes:
At
Ukraine’s naval command on Monday morning, officers lined up in the
yard of their Sevastopol headquarters to be addressed by both Berezovsky
and the newly appointed navy chief commander, Serhiy Haiduk.
The
officers broke into applause as Haiduk read them an order from Kiev
removing Berezovsky from his position, and told them that Berezovsky was
facing treason charges. When Haiduk had finished his dry but compelling
address, the officers spontaneously broke into the national anthem, and
some were seen to cry. Berezovsky showed no visible sign of emotion ...
The
officers listened sullenly as Berezovsky tried to entice them over to
the newly proclaimed Crimean fleet he now heads – assuring them they
would retain their ranks and there would be no interruption of salary
payments.
“Viktor Yanukovych is the legitimately elected president
of Ukraine,” he told them, arguing there would be no breach of oath if
they served Crimea. “The seizure of power in Kiev was orchestrated from
abroad.”
When Berezovsky requested questions from the officers, a
chorus of criticism broke from the ranks. “In what way exactly did
foreign powers intervene in Kiev, compared to the way they are
intervening now in Crimea?” asked an officer to applause from those
assembled. “Don’t ask provocative questions,” Berezovsky barked back.
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