West begins to understand sanity of Russia's actions in Ukraine
8 March 2014, 19:55 -- The Russian Federation Council will support the decision on the referendum adopted by the Parliament of Crimea. This came as a statement by head of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, to Crimean parliamentarians, who visited Moscow on Friday. A day earlier, the Crimean MPs voted for the beginning of the procedure of Crimea's annexation to Russia, and appointed a referendum on the future status of the peninsula for March 16.
The rating of Vladimir Putin rose to record levels - 67 percent of Russians support the activities of the leader. According to a poll, the Kremlin's position on the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis has greatly contributed to this. This week, the Russian President explained Moscow's actions in an interview with journalists. According to Putin, an unconstitutional upheaval and armed seizure of power took place in Ukraine. Russia is not going to bring troops into the neighboring country and annex Crimea by force. And the resolution of the Federation Council allowing to use military force on the territory of a foreign state is necessary in order to protect the lives and interests of Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine in case of an extreme situation. Such situations are quite possible given the methods, which the present 'leaders' of Kiev have used in order to come to power, Vladimir Putin said.
'The Parliament is partially legitimate. The others are not. Let alone the legitimacy of the acting President. There is no such thing. There is one legally legitimate President - Viktor Yanukovych, though he has no real power. There are three legal ways of removing him: his death, his personal letter of resignation or impeachment. It's a constitutional norm, a lengthy procedure. And it was not carried out. Probably, due to this reason, a decision about the dispersal of the Constitutional Court was adopted, which do not fit into the legal framework of Ukraine and Europe at all. Moreover, instructions were given to initiate criminal proceedings against judges. What is it? It's nonsense,' the Russian leader stated.
According to the Russian President, the revolutionary situation in Ukraine was evolving over years due to its citizens' dissatisfaction with the authorities, stratification of society and enormous corruption. However, desire for changes does not mean the necessity to achieve them with the use of illegal and anti-constitutional methods. At the same time, Putin noted that he understood the people in the Maidan, who demanded not cosmetic repairs of power, but radical changes.
Meanwhile, the situation in eastern regions of Ukraine is becoming more and more intense. The struggle between supporters and opponents of the Maidan does not stop; administrative buildings change hands many times. In Donetsk, by order of the Kiev authorities, 'people's Governor' Pavel Gubarev was arrested. When it became clear that Gubarev was taken from Donetsk to Kiev, his supporters surrounded the building of the security service of Ukraine, demanding to release their leader. The actions continued on Friday afternoon. According to the latest data, fighters of the special division of militia of Ukraine, Berkut, deployed at a base not far from Donetsk refused to obey the order of the Kiev authorities and arrest the protesters.
The situation in the neighbouring Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk is none the better. Tens of thousands of people opposed regional governors appointed by Kiev (both of them are oligarchs included in the 100 richest people of Ukraine, according to the Forbes magazine). The protesters claim the right to elect regional authorities themselves and demand to hold a referendum on the status of their regions, following the example of Crimea.
As for Crimea, we can say that it has already made a decision. The decision of the Supreme Council of the Autonomy to hold a referendum on March 16 was also supported by Sevastopol. It has a special status of a city of national significance. And Sevastopol decided to hold a plebiscite at the same time with the all-Crimean one.
An understanding of the steps of the Russian leadership is beginning to soak into western minds. As experts of the British Guardian noted this week, after the collapse of the USSR, the West had always given Russia to understand that it did not perceive it as a partner in solving European and global issues. Having promised not to expand NATO to the East, Brussels and Washington nevertheless continued to deploy their bases closer and closer to Russia's borders. From the western point of view, Moscow just had to put up with the dictates of its powerful partners. However, in the case of Ukraine, these 'partners' were not ready for such a turn of events, the ex-Premier believes. Putin cannot leave the Russian speaking population of the neighboring country without protection. Russia also cannot afford to lose the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. And it concerns not only the matters of geopolitical expediency, the Director of the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, Valery Korovin, notes.
'This will mean the beginning of the end of the Russian statehood, because it will become not only a strategic loss, but also a symbolic event of a military retreat. And in such situations, all internal destructive forces immediately consolidate and mobilize themselves. 'The fifth column' begins to feel its innocence, to act confidently, synchronizing with the forces from the outside. This would mean the emergence of nests of rebellion in Russia, consolidation of the 'atlanticist' liberal elite and transition to the active phase of the process of disintegration of Russia from the inside,' Korovin says.
But incumbent western politicians prefer not to listen to these voices. US President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry condemn the actions of Moscow and insist on establishing a mission of 'international mediators' to resolve the situation - and to launch talks between the Kremlin and Kiev. But the Russian authorities will not agree to contact with the Kiev leaders, the Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS countries, Igor Shishkin believes.
'The reasons, why the US insists on such negotiations, are obvious. They need to legalize the authorities (which is currently in power in Kiev) – puppet authorities, dependent on the US. It's not a secret for anybody that the coup was backed by the US, that all decisions were firstly made in the American Embassy, and then voiced by the so-called Ministers, acting President and Prime Minister. The West is engaged in this game: the EU has recognized the Kiev authorities. However, without recognition on the part of Russia all this remains in limbo. If we agree to conduct talks, we will recognize the putschists as legitimate power,' Shiskin concludes
And yet, there are different sentiments in the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin was nominated for the Nobel peace prize again. This was announced by the Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad. The Committee noted that, when deciding on awarding the prize, they will take into account the recent high-profile events in the world, in particular, the conflict between Russia, Ukraine and western countries over Crimea.
Igor Siletsky
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