President Obama, Vladimir Putin speak after Russia sends more soldiers to Ukraine
The two leaders spoke for 90 minutes on Saturday as Russia dispatched 6,000 more soldiers to Crimea, and acting Ukraine President Oleksandr Turchynov put the nation’s armed forces at full readiness. The White House said that during the conversation, Obama reiterated that continued involvement in Ukraine would harm Russia's international standing.
President Obama, still teetering along a thin red line, spoke for 90 minutes with Vladimir Putin on Saturday — after the Russians completed a weekend seizure of a key region of Ukraine.
The two leaders talked at length Saturday as the acting Ukraine president placed his military on full alert and Russia dispatched 6,000 more soldiers to Crimea.
“President Obama made clear that Russia’s continued violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would negatively impact Russia’s standing in the international community,” the White House said in a summary of the conversation.
Putin should “de-escalate tensions by withdrawing its forces back to bases in Crimea and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s parliament rubber-stamped Putin’s call for use of his armed forces to protect his nation’s interests in Ukraine — a direct rebuke of Obama. The 90-to-0 vote came one day after Russian forces grabbed control of two airports and a coast guard station in Crimea.
PETE SOUZA /THE WHITE HOUSE / HANDOUT/EPA
President Obama talking on the phone in the Oval Office with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine on Saturday.
By Saturday afternoon, Russian soldiers flooded the streets surrounding Crimea’s regional parliament and took control of key buildings as the week-old government in Kiev watched helplessly.
Two Russian warships appeared Saturday near the city of Sevastopol, according to a Reuters report. And Crimea’s newly installed pro-Russia prime minister assumed control of local police and military forces.
“The last two or three days have turned around the life of all the people in Crimea,” said Refat Chubarov, leader of the local Crimean Tatars.
“They’ve taken over military bases and civil institutions. That’s why Crimean society is filled with fear. People are afraid of everyone and everything.”
ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Russia's parliament rubber-stamped President Vladimir Putin's call for use of his armed forces to protect the nation's interest in Ukraine.
Acting Ukraine President Oleksandr Turchynov, in a television address Saturday night, said Russia’s “potential aggression” led him to put the nation’s armed forces at full readiness.
Security was also ramped up at Ukrainian nuclear plants and other crucial buildings, he said.
The increasingly edgy post-Sochi Olympics showdown turned the Ukraine situation into the most volatile of Obama’s administration.
A high-level White House meeting followed Putin’s military move, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, CIA Director John Brennan, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and National Intelligence Director James Clapper attending.
REUTERS
Ukraine map showing percentage of ethnic Russian-speaking population by state.
On Friday, Obama promised “there will be costs” for Russia if the country moved on neighboring Ukraine — although no specifics were cited.
Sen. John McCain said emphatically Saturday that details were needed immediately.
“It is now essential for the President to articulate exactly what those costs will be and to take steps urgently to impose them,” said the Arizona Republican.
“Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in the Ukraine.”
ANTON PEDKO/EPA
Troops on the march in Ukraine on Saturday as a defiant Russia sent 6,000 more soldiers to Crimea.
The uneasy peace came a week after Ukraine dissidents forced the nation’s pro-Russia president out of office following three months of sometimes violent protest.
In Kiev, former heavyweight champ-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko urged that Ukraine strike back at the Russian interlopers.
He also suggested giving Russia’s Black Sea Fleet the boot from its base in Crimea.
Robert Serry, senior adviser to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, canceled a visit to Crimea before the UN Security Council met Saturday in Manhattan.
ANTON PEDKO/EPA
A Ukrainian man (center) asks Russian soldiers on Saturday to stop blocking a Ukrainian military base in Crimea.
The Ukraine asked permanent council members Britain, France, China and the U.S. for help in stopping the Russian aggression.
“The Russian Federation brutally violated the basic principles of the charter of the United Nations,” said Ukrainian UN Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev.
Ki-moon made a Saturday phone call to Putin in an effort to soothe the increasingly tense situation.
The secretary general said he was “gravely concerned about the deterioration of the situation” and called for “immediate restoration of calm and direct dialogue between all concerned.”
MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP
Taisia Bullard, who was born in central Ukraine, outside Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Putin instead made the move to invoke his nation’s military might.
“I’m submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the sociopolitical situation in that country,” he said.
Putin further ratcheted up the Cold War-era staredown when Russia’s upper house of parliament recommended that Moscow yank its ambassador from Washington over Obama’s Friday remarks.
One Russian politico accused the President of crossing a “red line” with his thinly veiled threats.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader had not decided on dispatching even more troops to Crimea, using the military in Ukraine or pulling the ambassador.
OLGA IVASHCHENKO/AP
A wounded pro-Western activist sits after clashes with pro-Russia activists at the local administration building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday.
“He will make these decisions depending on how the situation will develop,” said Peskov. “We would like to hope that the situation will not develop into the scenario it’s developing now — that is inciting tensions and making a threat for the Russians on the Crimean peninsula.”
Ukraine was rocked by pro-Russian protests in several cities, including Kharkiv, Donestsk, Luhansk and Odessa.
The Kharkiv demonstration left 97 people injured as the protesters forced Ukrainian government officials out of their headquarters — and raised the Russian flag above it.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenuk urged Putin to back off his aggressive stance.
Moscow needs “to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment