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Russia without Ukraine is a country; |
During the Great War, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Lenin took it back
During the Great Pariotic War, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Stalin took it back
During the Winter Olympiad, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Putin let it slip away
Ukraine Crisis March 2014 - Week 1
Ukraine Crisis - 07 March 2014
Ukraine's border guards said Moscow had poured troops into the southern peninsula where Russian forces have seized control. Serhiy Astakhov, an aide to the border guards' commander, said there were 30,000 Russian soldiers in Crimea as of 07 March 2014, compared to 11,000 permanently based with the Russian Black Sea fleet in the port of Sevastopol before the crisis.
Ukraine’s Crimean city of Sevastopol voted to become part of Russia, mirroring an earlier vote by the region’s parliament. The city, which has a separate administrative status from the rest of Crimea, would still take part in a public referendum to formalize the decision, scheduled by the Crimean parliament for March 16.
Ukraine's interim president signed a decree on 07 March 2014 canceling a planned referendum on Crimea joining Russia, but Crimean officials vowed the vote will go ahead. "Kyiv will not be able to derail the referendum in the Crimea," said Mikhail Malyshev, chairman of the election commission overseeing the referendum on the peninsula. "It will be held, as scheduled, on March 16." In Moscow, the Speaker of Russia's Upper House of Parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said Friday that Russian lawmakers will support Crimea's decision if the Ukrainian region decided in a referendum to join Russia.
Russia accused the European Union of taking an “extremely unconstructive stance” on the Ukrainian political crisis by freezing negotiations with Russia on a visa-free regime and a new cooperation agreement. “Russia does not accept the language of sanctions and threats, but if they are imposed they will not remain unanswered,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In a phone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "warned against hasty and reckless steps capable of causing harm to Russian-American relations, particularly ... sanctions, which would inevitably hit the United States like a boomerang", the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Japan endorsed the Western position that the actions of Russia, whose forces have seized control of the Crimean peninsula, constitute ''a threat to international peace and security", after President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. China, often a Russian ally in blocking Western moves in the UN Security Council, was more cautious, saying that economic sanctions were not the best way to solve the crisis and avoiding comment on the legality of a Crimean referendum on secession.
The White House appeared to downplay the possibility of changing US policy on exporting natural gas to address the situation in Ukraine. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One that policy changes would not have an immediate effect and noted that stocks in Europe were above normal levels because of a mild winter.
Ukraine Crisis - 06 March 2014
Lawmakers in Crimea voted on March 06, 2014 to join the Russian Federation via a regional referendum, in a move likely to further escalate tensions over the peninsula. The parliament of Crimea said it was scheduling a referendum on joining Russia for March 16. During the vote in Crimea’s parliament, 78 of the region’s lawmakers voted in favor of holding a referendum and joining Russia. There were eight abstentions and no votes against the move. The parliament announced it had asked Moscow “to start the procedure” for allowing Crimea to join the Russian Federation.
The decision made by the Supreme Council of Crimea to join the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation takes effect the moment it is made, Ruslan Temirgaliyev, first deputy chairman of Council of Ministers, said. "The decision made by the Supreme Council to join Crimea to Russia takes effect the moment it is made, that is, beginning today," Temirgaliyev said.
“It is not a referendum, it is a farce, a fake and a crime against the state which is organized by the Russian Federation's military,” Ukraine's acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, said in the country's capital Kiev. The current Crimean parliament was formed after gunmen seized the building a few days earlier.
A mission of OSCE observers was stopped from entering Crimea by unidentified men in military fatigues, Poland's defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said. Following the incident the mission of 43 unarmed observers from 23 OSCE countries was reported to have turned back and headed to the Ukrainian city of Kherson. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said attempts by Western countries to take action over the Ukraine crisis via democracy watchdog OSCE and the NATO military alliance were not helpful.
Ukraine again flew its flag over the government headquarters in the eastern city of Donetsk and ejected pro-Moscow demonstrators that occupied it, ending a siege that Kiyv had seen as part of a Russian plan to create a pretext for invasion. Police said they had taken more than 70 people into custody for questioning after clearing out the regional administration headquarters and another government building.
The number of people killed in violent Kiev clashes since November 30, 2013, rose to 100, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said. “One person died at Kiev City Hospital No. 12 on March 5. He was admitted there for treatment on February 28,” the ministry said. At least 1,075 people sought medical aid since February 18 and 698 of them hospitalized, the statement added. Thirty-six people have been injured and taken to hospital in the last 24 hours alone, it said.
The European Union’s envoy to Ukraine, Jan Tombinski, said Crimea cannot secede from Ukraine and join Russia on the basis of a referendum restricted just to Crimea. Citing article 73 of Ukraine's constitution, he says such a referendum would be illegal. “It stipulates that the only way is the all-Ukrainian referendum," he noted. "So, in the light of the constitution in force in Ukraine, in its territorial integrity, including Crimea, this is against the stipulation of the constitution.”
President Barack Obama said the initiative put forth by pro-Russian lawmakers in Crimea to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation by means of a regional referendum would be in violation of international law. “The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law,”
Obama told reporters at the White House. Obama announced a set of U.S. sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine. Obama ordered the freezing of U.S. assets and a ban on travel into the United States of those involved in the Russian military intervention into the Crimea region of Ukraine. Obama signed an executive order aimed at punishing those Russians and Ukrainians responsible for a Russian move into Crimea. In addition, the State Department is putting in place visa bans on a number of officials and individuals responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Lee Andrew Feinstein, the former US ambassador to Poland, defended Obama's leadership on the latest crisis in Ukraine: "I think, to be fair, President Obama and Secretary Kerry have responded very strongly to these Russian provocations. The secretary of state has called this international aggression. President Obama has called it a clear violation of international law." It was only days later, Feinstein added, that Europe spoke out with similarly strong language. "It's popular at this time to talk about the limitations of what the United States and Europe can do," Feinstein said. "But if the United States and Europe are united and speaking with one voice, there's a lot that our countries can do together."
The US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Truxton [not the earlier nuclear powered vessel] headed to the Black Sea for what the US military described as a “routine” deployment that was scheduled well before the crisis in Ukraine. The US Navy said that the destroyer left Greece en route to the Black Sea and would conduct training with Romanian and Bulgarian naval forces. The announcement came a day after the Pentagon unveiled plans to put more US fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics, moving to reassure allies alarmed by Russia's effective seizure Crimea. The Pentagon also announced a large-scale air force exercise in Poland, which Washington's ambassador to Warsaw said had been augmented to reassure US allies in the region in the light of the Ukraine crisis. The US military was sending 12 F-16 fighter jets to Poland for a training exercise, Polish media reported.
NATO urged Russia on Thursday to call back to bases its forces in Crimea, saying it stood by Ukraine's territorial integrity in the face of the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. “Ukraine is a valued and long-standing partner for NATO. In these difficult moments NATO stands by Ukraine, NATO stands by Ukraine's sovereignty, integrity and by the fundamental principles of international law,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. “This crisis is not just about Ukraine, this crisis has serious implications for the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area as a whole. We clearly face the gravest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War,'' Rasmussen said.
NATO has decided to “intensify our partnership” and “strengthen our cooperation” with Ukraine in order to “support democratic reforms.... We will step up our engagement with the Ukrainian civilian and military leadership. We will strengthen our efforts to build the capacity of the Ukrainian military, including with more joint training and exercises. And we will do more to include Ukraine in our multinational projects to develop capabilities,” Rasmussen clarified.
Europe's trade volume with Russia is about 10 times greater than that of the US. The European Union froze the assets of 18 high-ranking officials of the former Ukrainian government, including ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The 28-nation bloc announced the names of those targeted by the sanctions after reaching a decision the night before to impose the punishments on those responsible for embezzlement of state funds. Yanukovych's son, his former justice minister and several other government ministers are also among those whose assets were frozen.
European Union countries such as Poland and Greece worried they might face gas shortages and economic damage if Russia stopped pumping gas to Ukraine. The trade deal with the European Union that triggered the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after he declined to sign it in favor of closer ties with Russia may be delayed until after May 2014 elections in Ukraine. The "association agreement" with the European Union was at the heart of the protests against ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. EU officials initially said they were ready to sign the association agreement with Ukraine whenever the country’s new leaders wanted to do so. The hold-up may have to do with the diplomatic efforts under way to try to find a resolution to the standoff in Crimea. Delay risked undermining popular support for the association agreement and prompting rumors of a lack of resolve on the part of the European Union to stand firm against Russia in the confrontation over Crimea.
Ukraine Crisis - 05 March 2014
Dropping diplomatic niceties, the U.S. State Department published a "fact sheet" entitled "President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine." "As Russia spins a false narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine, the world has not seen such startling Russian fiction since Dostoyevsky wrote, 'The formula "two plus two equals five" is not without its attractions,"' the State Department said in the document.
Russia’s foreign minister said 05 March 2014 that a February 21 agreement to create a coalition government in Ukraine is immutable and must be the basis for peace in the country. “The most heated phase of this crisis began when, in essence, an armed overthrow of the government and the legitimately elected president took place in violation of Ukraine’s constitution,” Sergei Lavrov said. The EU-brokered agreement, which would have allowed the erstwhile pro-Russia government to remain in power until early elections, must be fulfilled, Lavrov told reporters.
The European Union announced that it would provide Ukraine with 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in financial assistance over the next two years, adding to $1 billion pledged by the United States when Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kiev. The European Commission said in a statement that financial support would be provided over a two-year period from the EU budget and EU-based international financial institutions.
Russia has made a number of claims about the poor treatment of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers that Washington finds baseless. Despite widespread evidence to the contrary, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that reports of Russian soldiers in Ukraine were “complete nonsense.” Shogiu said that photographs showing heavily armed soldiers deployed across Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula over the last week were provocations. Shoigu also said that he “could not understand” where Russian military vehicles currently in Crimea had come from. Shoigu’s denials echo those made by other top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Troops lacking official insignia but bearing Russian military weapons and uniforms have spread across Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula starting 01 March 2014. Heavily armed men occupied airports, border posts, blockaded Ukrainian military bases in Crimea and stormed key administrative buildings in the regional capital last week in what appeared to be a highly coordinated operation to seize control of the peninsula. Putin and senior Russian ministers denied that they are Russian troops, despite evidence to the contrary from observers on the ground.
Some Republican lawmakers accuse the Obama administration of weakness and naïveté on the world stage that all but invited Russian aggression towards its neighbor. Senator John McCain said President Obama “does not understand” Russian President Vladimir Putin nor his ambition to resurrect “the Russian empire.” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy noted that Russian intervention is not new, including incursions into Georgia during the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush.
Ukraine Crisis - 04 March 2014
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said 04 March 2014 that Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in his country. Putin said a decision to use military force in Ukraine, if made, will fully comply with international law. He said this decision will fully comply with "the general norms of international law, since we have received a request from the legitimate president." In eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian demonstrators have occupied part of the regional government building in the city of Donetsk. Meanwhile, a few hundred pro-Russian activists tried but failed to force their way into the regional administration building in the southern city of Odesa.
The West has turned political life in Ukraine into a farce, President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Novo-Ogaryovo. "I sometimes get the impression that a laboratory, located over there, across a big pool, somewhere in America, is running experiments on rats of a sort, unaware of the consequences of what they are doing," Putin said. "Why should all this have been done? Who can explain? There are no explanations whatsoever," Putin said.
Russia may recognize outcomes of Ukrainian presidential elections if the vote of Ukrainian citizens is free and there is no terror, Putin said. "That depends on the way in which they are held. If they are held against the backdrop of terror that we are now witnessing in Kiev, then we won't recognize them," he said. Moscow is ready to cooperate even with the incumbent Ukrainian authorities it considers illegal, Putin said.
The tense situation in Crimea, in which the use of the armed forces was possible, is gone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "The tense situation in Crimea with the possible use of the armed forces has simply expired. There was no such need," Putin told reporters in Novo-Ogaryovo. Putin called the media's attention to the fact that not a single shot had been fired in Crimea and there have been no casualties. "What happened there was people came, blocked armed units and agreed on their obedience to the demands and the will of people populating that territory," Putin stressed.
Nearly 11,500 people took part in a demonstration in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, one of the biggest cities and the administrative center of the Rostov region. A rally in the western city of Vladimir attracted over 5,000 people. Over 4,000 people gathered in the southwestern city of Voronezh. Also, the rally initiated by World War II veterans attracted nearly 4,500 people in the southern city of Volgograd.
Ukraine Crisis - 03 March 2014
A number of reports surfaced on 03 March 2014 that Russia's Black Sea Fleet had given Ukrainian troops in Crimea an ultimatum due to expire at 5a.m. on 04 March 2014 to either surrender or face military action. The United States warned that this would represent a dangerous escalation of the crisis. Russia disavowed the reports, calling them "utter nonsense". Parallel to this, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reportedly notified all military facilities that military servicemen unwilling to serve under command of the Crimean authorities were free to leave; this followed reports that the former Commander of the Ukrainian Naval Forces Denis Berezovsky had attempted to convince other officers to switch sides.Also reported were the blockading of a number of Ukrainian ships by Russian ones, with the Ukrainian ships ordered to surrender the vessels to Russia.
At an emergency 03 March 2014 UN Security Council held on the crisis in Ukraine, Russia formally justified its military intervention in Crimea by stating that Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych had formally made the request. Russia's Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, quoted from, and showed Yanukovich's letter to other UNSC members. According to Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN, "beginning from 24 February, approximately 16,000 Russian troops have been deployed in Crimea by the military ships, helicopters, cargo airplanes from the neighboring territory of the Russian Federation". Churkin also said that, under the existing agreement on its Black Sea Fleet, Russia could deploy a 25,000-strong force in Ukraine's autonomous republic of Crimea.
Meanwhile, President Obama further condemned Russia's intervention, saying his administration was "examining a whole series of steps -- economic, diplomatic -- that will isolate Russia and will have a negative impact on Russia’s economy and its status in the world." This echoed remarks by US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power who strongly took issues with Russia's arguments, pointing out that:
"It is a fact that Russian military forces have taken over Ukrainian border posts. It is a fact that Russia has taken over the ferry terminal in Kerch. It is a fact that Russian ships are moving in and around Sevastapol. It is a fact that Russian forces are blocking mobile telephone services in some areas. It is a fact that Russia has surrounded or taken over practically all Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea. It is a fact that today Russian jets entered Ukrainian airspace. It is also a fact that independent journalists continue to report that there is no evidence of violence against Russian or pro-Russian communities.
Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission. It is a violation of international law and a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the independent nation of Ukraine, and a breach of Russia’s Helsinki Commitments and its UN obligations."
Markets opening on 03 March 2014 around the world also reacted negatively to the crisis, with Russia's curreny dropping to an all-time low against the dollar, and forcing the Russian Central Bank to raise its key interest rate.
Ukraine appealed for assistance from NATO on 02 March 2014 , asking it to use all possible measures to ensure its territorial integrity and protect its people. In addition to asking for NATO’s protection, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa urged the trans-Atlantic military alliance to aid it in securing nuclear facilities based in Ukraine.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine and refrain from interfering in other parts of that country. Rasmussen said that Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine's Crimea region "threatens peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military activities." The alliance issued a statement urging “both parties to immediately seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue, through the dispatch of international observers under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council or the OSCE."
Speaker of Crimea’s Supreme Council, or parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov called on residents of the Crimean autonomous republic to cast their votes in favor of Crimea’s state independence at a forthcoming referendum. "To enjoy the complete authority in the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea, we ask you, dear Crimean residents, to vest us with relevant authority...That is why we suggest a referendum be held to give you a possibility to express your attitude to our request." The Crimean authorities, he stressed, did not "recognize orders and legal acts issued from those political forces that have seized power in Kiev if they run counter to the existing laws and if they are passed in violation of the procedure prescribed by law."
Ukraine Crisis - 02 March 2014
Russia’s border guard service said 02 March 2014 that some 675,000 Ukrainian citizens have migrated to Russia since the beginning of 2014 amid fears of uncertain future in crisis-hit Ukraine. The border guards said the majority of refuge-seeking Ukrainians took up temporary residence in neighboring Belgorod, Rostov, Bryansk and Kursk regions as well as in Krasnodar Territory. In February alone, the migration flow from Ukraine to the Rostov region increased by 53 percent, while exodus to the Kursk region rose by 71 percent, showing signs of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the border guard service. This is out of a total population of about 45,000,000, of whome Russians number about 17%, or 7,650,000. So the claim is that nearly a tenth of the ethnic Russian population has fled the country, though some observers on the ground doubt the claim.
Ukraine Crisis - 01 March 2014
The United States used an emergency session of the UN Security Council on 01 March 2014 to demand an end to Russian intervention in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of violating international commitments. "It is time for the Russian intervention in Ukraine to end. The Russian military must stand down," US Ambassador Samantha Power said. "The aspirations of the Ukrainian people must be respected and political dialogue must be allowed to continue. ... The US stands with the people of Ukraine in determining their own destiny, their own government, and their own future."
Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Barack Obama by telephone that Moscow reserves the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. "In response to the concern shown by Obama about the plans for the possible use of Russia's armed forces on the territory of Ukraine, Putin drew attention to the provocative, criminal actions by ultra-nationalists, in essence encouraged by the current authorities in Kiev," the Kremlin statement said.
Putin requested the Federation Council to use the Army for normalizing the socio-political situation in Ukraine in connection with the “extraordinary situation” there. The events in Ukraine indicate there is a “threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation… and the personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory,” the Russian president said.
Russia’s upper house of parliament unanimously approved a request from President Vladimir Putin to deploy military forces in Ukraine in a move that could escalate a confrontation in the Crimean peninsula. Putin issued his request in response to what he said was a threat to the lives of Russian citizens and military forces located in naval bases in Ukraine’s southern peninsula of Crimea. All 90 Senators present in the 116-member Federation Council voted in support of armed action. The head of Russia's upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said she could not rule out the possibility that a limited contingent of troops could be sent to Crimea to ensure the security of the Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and Russian citizens living in the region.
"After the decision by the Federation Council, the president has received the full arsenal of means needed to resolve the situation, in terms of using (military) forces and in terms of taking decisions about (withdrawing) the head of our diplomatic mission in the United States," Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying.
The Russian parliament's approval of the use of armed forces in Ukraine does not mean it will happen immediately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said. "Today's consent ... means only that the president has the free hand [to act] if the situation gets worse," the Russian news agency quoted Karasin as saying. "I am convinced that it [decision] will be understood correctly in Ukraine, but I do not rule out that it will be distorted as always by Western mass media which barely understand the processes unfolding in Ukraine both now and before."
US President Barack Obama's warning that Russia would have to pay for a planned military intervention in Crimea is "a direct threat," Federation Council Deputy Chairman Yury Vorobyov said, addingn that Obama had "crossed the red line and insulted the Russian people.... Yesterday we heard from various media sources that the US president, Obama, had said Russia would pay dearly for its policy. We know that Maidan militants who were active in Kiev, and not only there, had been trained in Lithuania and Poland. Now they want to spread their influence with their activities to eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea," Vorobyov said at an upper house session.
Russian state television now describes Ukraine as a country controlled by "fascist nationalists." Television screens show videos of Russian army tanks churning through mud on a massive military exercise across the border from eastern Ukraine. Ukraine's newly appointed Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk demanded that Russia stop what he called its "provocations" in Crimea, and said the Ukrainian military in the majority Russian area is on high alert.
Emboldened by Russia's show of force in Crimea, armed men seized government buildings in Eastern Ukraine's two largest cities - Kharkiv and Donetsk. Soon, Russian flags flapped from the rooftops. Russian flags were reportedly raised over local government buildings in cities across eastern Ukraine, including Kharkhiv, Donetsk, Odessa, Mariupol and Dnieperpetrovsk. Putin's decision to send troops to Ukraine came after an appeal by Crimea's new pro-Russian leader for soldiers to patrol the predominantly Russian-speaking peninsula.
Pro-Russian demonstrations had become a frequent occurrence in the predominantly Russian-speaking east and south of the country in recent days following the flight of President Viktor Yanukovych that swept the opposition to power. Clashes broke out during at least one of a series of pro-Russian demonstrations across eastern Ukraine, where resistance remains strong against the interim government that had taken hold in the capital, Kiev. Crowds at the rallies called for intervention from Russia.
Attendance at a rally in Kharkhiv, a city of 1.5 million people, was estimtated by Russian state television at about 10,000. More than 100 people were injured at that gathering as protesters overcame resistance from pro-government activists to storm the regional administration building. The storming was accompanied by clashes and shooting. At least 10 explosions were heard, both in the building and in the area around it.
Activists from Right Sector radical group, who were inside the building, “were throwing explosives, perhaps even grenades, into public transport,” Kharkov Mayor Kernes told journalists. “They also opened fire at protesters,” he added and showed a cartridge for a Kalashnikov assault-rifle which was found inside the building. According to the mayor, “120 cocktail bombs, two mines and drugs” were discovered at the site.
Thousands of people gathered in the industrial city of Donetsk near the border with Russia, expressing their support for Ukrainian riot police who confronted protesters in Kiev and calling on Russia to intervene in Ukraine. The line-up of speakers was reportedly hijacked by pro-Russian groups who adopted an increasingly militant line as the afternoon wore on. Donetsk City Council held an extraordinary session and approved an idea of holding a referendum on the future fate of the Donetsk region. The council also supported the initiative on setting up municipal militia squads to protect citizens from possible aggression by radical nationalists, reported Itar-Tass. Additionally, authorities decided to introduce Russian as a second official language in the region. The City Council refused to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Kiev and declared itself the only legitimate body in the city.
In the Crimean capital of Simferopol, around 6,000 people marched, chanting “Russia!” and “No to Fascism!” and carrying a huge Russian flag. Thousands were also demonstrating with Russian and Soviet flags in Odessa, the third-largest city in the country. According to police, around 5,000 people took part in the gathering, while organizers insist there were up to 20,000. Protests were also held in Lugansk, Melitopol, Yevpatoria, Kerch and Mariupol.
A proposal presented to Ukraine’s parliament that aroused much indignation among Ukraine’s ethnic Russians, who also live in large quantities in the country’s east, would downgrade the status of the Russian language. That plan is seen by many as an attempt to marginalize Russians from public life. But a representative for acting President Oleksandr Turchinov as saying that proposal would be vetoed, a move that could serve to substantially lower tensions and appease Moscow, which had voiced objections.
Russia’s Federal Migration Service said it has noted a sharp spike in applications from Ukrainian citizens seeking refuge. The head of the migration service’s citizenship department, Valentina Kazakova, said 143,000 people had applied for asylum in the last two weeks of February alone. “People are afraid for the fate of those close to them and are asking not just for protection, but also to help them receive fast-tracked Russian citizenship,” Kazakova said. “A large number of applications are from members of Ukrainian law enforcement bodies and government officials fearing reprisals from radically disposed groups.”
Russian state energy giant Gazprom indicated it was likely discontinue discounts on gas exports to Ukraine, a development that would spell disaster for Kiev’s cash-starved coffers. Gazprom said Saturday that Ukraine is $1.55 billion in arrears on payments for natural gas deliveries, which the company said may force it to cancel a discount on the fuel agreed in December 2013. Gazprom said in early February that Ukrainian debt for 2013 deliveries stood at $2.63 billion, meaning that Naftogaz had around $1.35 billion still to pay at the middle of the month. Naftogaz bought around 13 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in 2013 at the rate of $400 per thousand cubic meters. That price was substantially reduced in December to $268.5 per thousand cubic meters.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh said Russia had sent 6,000 additional troops into Crimea, along with 30 armored personnel carriers, since February 28. He called this a blatant violation of Ukrainian territorial integrity. Starting 28 February 2014, Russian army troops took over Crimea's three airports. Military helicopters and transport planes started shuttling troops and supplies into the peninsula. Armed checkpoints manned by Russian-speaking men are controlling the sole highway from the mainland to the peninsula. Russian consular officials started distributing Russian passports to policemen in Crimea.
The situation in Ukraine is unpredictable and could change quickly. Further violent clashes in Kyiv and other cities are possible. The location and nature of demonstrations and methods employed can change quickly and without warning. Protest sites have drawn large crowds, and protesters have blocked roads in Kyiv and other cities and may do so again.
Protests in Kyiv began on 21 November 2013, following the Government of Ukraine’s announcement that it was suspending preparations to sign an association agreement with the European Union. On November 30, police severely injured several demonstrators in an attempt to remove them from Independence Square. Protesters retaliated by occupying Kyiv’s Independence Square, City Administration Building (i.e. City Hall) and other buildings. Since then, there have been several clashes between protestors and police resulting in numerous injuries. On 19 January 2014, violence escalated with protesters and police using stones, Molotov cocktails, tear gas and rubber bullets. Since then, and particularly with further violence on 18 February 2014, the situation escalated significantly with protesters and police using stones, Molotov cocktails, tear gas and rubber bullets. Following the agreement on the Ukrainian crisis settlement reached between head of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition on 21 February 2014, the incumbent government disintegrated.
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