US VP denounces Crimea's reunion with Russia as 'land grab'
Iran Press TV
Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:53PM GMT
US Vice President Joe Biden has called the autonomous Ukrainian region of Crimea's reunion with Russia a "land grab" by Moscow and a "blatant violation of international law."
'Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab, including what he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] said today,' Biden said on Tuesday in Poland, which shares a border with both Russia and Ukraine.
'But the world has seen through Russia's actions and has rejected the flawed logic behind those actions,' he claimed.
Biden is on a two-day visit to Poland and Lithuania. His visit is part of a wider US campaign to exert pressure on Moscow to back off in Ukraine now that the Kremlin has formally announced that it considers Crimea a part of Russia, following the peninsula's declaration of independence on Monday.
The US vice president said Russia violated international law and the West should be resolute against it, warning Moscow that the United States and its allies will impose further sanctions on Russia if it does not reverse the course of recent events in Ukraine.
'Russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this path and it will in fact see additional sanctions by the United States and the EU,' Biden stated.
On Sunday, 96.8 of residents of Crimea voted to break away from Ukraine and rejoin Russia in a referendum that has triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War.
A day after the referendum, Crimea declared independence and formally applied to become part of Russia. On Tuesday, Putin signed a treaty making Crimea part of Russia, saying the vote demonstrated the overwhelming will of the Crimean people to be reunited with Russia after 60 years as part of the Ukrainian republic.
Biden called the Crimea referendum illegal on Tuesday, saying Moscow stood alone in its backing of the vote at the UN Security Council.
GJH/ARA
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