Ukraine declares total mobilization
2 March 2014, 11:00
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting overnight into Sunday, as well as consultations on the situation in Ukraine to call for dialogue. Russia insists that Ukraine should return to a constitutional framework.
The UN Security Council Chair, Luxembourg Ambassador to the UN, Sylive Lucas, told reporters following the meeting that the Council had reiterated the need for a comprehensive political dialogue that would reflect the diversity of Ukrainian society and meet the expectations of all Ukrainians.
According to Lucas, the Council members voiced deep concerns over the deteriorating situation, stressed the need for urgent de-escalation and reaffirmed their appeal to all parties to show maximum restraint and abstain from moves or rhetoric that could worsen the situation.
The Security Council Chair also said that some parties to the consultations had come out in favour of a mediated settlement to the crisis in Ukraine and suggested sending monitors. The Deputy UN Secretary General, Jan Eliasson, who attended the meeting, told reporters that some SC member-states suggested mediation, sending observers and advancing other diplomatic initiatives. Eliasson said he knew the UN Secretary General was quite serious about such initiatives, so they would act fast and expect everyone to make every effort to settle the involved and dangerous situation.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that the US demands that UN and OSCE observers be deployed in Ukraine, since she felt this was the best way to monitor the situation and prevent abuses. Ambassador Power told the UNSC emergency meeting that Russia is a member of both the UN and OSCE, so it should participate actively in all this to safeguard its interests.
During the open part of the meeting the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, called for the situation to be brought back to the constitutional framework, that the parties return to the agreement of February 21st and that a government of national unity should be established.
He also said that the radicals should be brought to heel and suggested that Ukrainian opposition politicians should dissociate themselves from the radicals.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Moscow would react to likely violence against the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine within the framework of international law.
Ban Ki-moon, according to the UN press service, voiced concerns over the situation in Ukraine.
The UN Secretary General said in a statement that he was profoundly concerned about some recent developments, especially those that may blow up the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
He said it is vital to restore calm and ensure an immediate de-escalation of the situation. We should keep our heads cool and make dialogue the only instrument for ending the crisis, the UN Secretary General said.
On Saturday, the Russian Parliament's upper house, the Federation Council, voted to authorize the Russian President to use the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, but the Russian President's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, says Putin has not yet made that decision.
The Russian Senators asked Putin to take measures to ensure Russian nationals' security in Crimea and stabilize the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The decision was made after the Prime Minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, asked the Russian President to provide assistance in guaranteeing peace and quiet within the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Voice of Russia, TASS, RIA
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