Deutsche Welle, 4 March 2014
Ukraine's
government has fortified defenses as Russia's Vladimir Putin has vowed to leave
all options on the table. Secretary of State John Kerry has flown to Ukraine to
show US support for the fledgling government.
US
Secretary of State John Kerry arrived ín Kyiv Tuesday as the government
grapples with a Russian military takeover of Crimea, a strategic region in Ukraine's southeast, and as Vladimir Putin said that threatened economic
sanctions would not deter him. The Russian president spoke earlier Tuesday in
his first comments since Ukraine's new interim leaders accused him of sending an estimated 16,000 troops into the Crimean peninsula.
"There
can be one assessment of what happened in Kyiv and Ukraine as a whole,"
Putin said Tuesday. "This was an anti-constitutional takeover and armed
seizure of power."
On Tuesday,
the United States also announced an aid package worth $1 billion (730 million
euros) aimed at helping the economically struggling Ukraine insulate itself
from reduction in energy supplies from Russia, which supplies a substantial
portion of the country's natural gas. The United States announced that it
intended for the assistance to supplement a broader aid package from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), which currently has officials in Ukraine
working with the new government.
'Safe and
sound'
On Tuesday,
Putin said that he currently saw no need for military involvement, although he
reserved the right to use all means to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
Putin said
former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia, remains the only legitimate
leader of Ukraine. He said he saw Yanukoych two days ago and he was "safe
and sound," denying rumors he had died of a heart attack.
Putin did
admit, however, that Yanukovych had no political future. Ukraine's interim
government took control after Yanukovych was ousted following three months of
protests.
Increasing
tensions
On Tuesday,
Putin accused other countries of encouraging an "unconstitutional
coup" in Ukraine and driving it into anarchy, declaring that any
international sanctions placed on Russia would backfire. US and European
leaders have begun considering sanctions on exports from Russia's natural gas,
uranium and coal industries. On Monday, the Pentagon had announced that it
would suspend military-to-military engagements between the United States and
Russia, including exercises, bilateral meetings, port visits and conferences.
Speaking
Monday at the UN in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attempted to
deflect blame back on the United States and European Union. He defended the deployment
of troops in Ukraine as a necessary protection for ethnic Russians living
there.
"Those
who are trying to interpret the situation as a sort of aggression and
threatening us with sanctions and boycotts, these are the same partners who
have been consistently and vigorously encouraging the political powers close to
them to declare ultimatums and renounce dialogue," Lavrov said. "This
is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights,
especially the right to life," he added.
mkg/kms (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)
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