Ukraine mobilises army as Obama warns Russia
AFP
March 2, 2014, 9:58 pm
Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine said Sunday it would call up all military reservists after President Vladimir Putin's threat to invade Russia's neighbour drew a blunt response from US President Barack Obama.
The stark escalation in what threatens to become the worst crisis in relations since the Cold War came as pro-Russian forces seized control of key government buildings and airports in the strategic Crimean peninsula.
Russia's parliament voted on Saturday to allow troops to deploy in its western neighbour, a move Obama branded a "violation of Ukrainian sovereignty".
Witnesses said a group of Russian soldiers had also blocked about 400 Ukrainian marines at their base in the eastern Crimean port city of Feodosiya and were calling on them to surrender and give up their arms.
Putin said in statement he was responsible for the safety of ethnic Russians in Crimea -- home to Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years -- and southeastern swathes of Ukraine with ancient ties to Moscow that look on Kiev's new pro-EU leaders with disdain.
The Western-backed interim team that took power in Kiev a week ago responded to Moscow's move toward its first invasion of a neighbour since a brief 2008 confrontation with Georgia by putting the military on full combat alert on Saturday.
Ukranian National Security Council chief Andriy Parubiy told the nation in a televised address he had ordered the defence ministry to "call on all those that armed forces need at the moment across Ukraine... (to) ensure the security and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
Ukraine's defence chief said earlier Russia had already sent 30 armoured personnel carriers and 6,000 additional troops into Crimea to help pro-Kremlin militia gain broader independence from the new pro-EU leaders in Kiev.
Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya also appealed to NATO "with a request to consider all options to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation called emergency talks with its 28 ambassadors for Sunday at 1200 GMT.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague was due in Kiev later Sunday for talks with interim president Oleksandr Turchynov.
- Tense Obama-Putin call -
The Russian upper house of parliament voted unanimously on Saturday authorising the use of force in Ukraine, triggering an international outcry.
The move came after a three-month crisis in the strategic ex-Soviet nation of 46 million -- long fought over by Moscow and the West -- culminated in a week of carnage last month that claimed nearly 100 lives and led to the ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych.
The Kremlin appeared stunned by the loss of its ally and Kiev's subsequent vow to seek EU membership -- a decision that would shatter Putin's dream of reassembling a powerful economic and military post-Soviet bloc.
Putin had issued only one brief statement on Yanukovych's February 22 ouster before his Saturday request to use force against Ukraine.
But the ferocity of the international outcry sparked by the move underscores the increasing distance Putin has put between Russia and the West during his 14 years in power as both president and prime minister.
Obama told Putin in what the White House described as a charged 90-minute call that Russia's reported deployment of troops outside the bases Moscow leases from Kiev in Crimea had already broken international law.
"President Obama expressed his deep concern over Russia's clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity," the White House said.
It said Obama told Putin his actions were a "breach of international law, including Russia's obligations under the UN Charter, and of its 1997 military basing agreement with Ukraine."
US Secretary of State John Kerry hosted a joint conference call with six other foreign ministers from Europe and Canada as well as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the Japanese envoy to the Washington "to coordinate on next steps".
Kerry warned that Moscow was risking the peace and security of the entire region and not just Ukraine.
A US official said the tone of Obama's call to Putin was "candid and direct" -- diplomatic parlance for what is otherwise known as a heated exchange.
The Kremlin's account of Putin's conversation with Obama was equally blunt.
It said Putin drew the US leader's "attention to the provocations and crimes of ultranationalist elements, which are effectively being encouraged by the current authorities in Kiev".
It said Putin stressed "the real threats to the lives and well-being" of Russian nationals living in Ukraine.
"In case of the further spread of violence in the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea, Russia reserves the right to protect its interests and those of the Russian-speaking population" in Ukraine, Putin said.
The United States called on Russia to withdraw its reinforcements from Crimea at indecisive UN Security Council meeting that saw Kiev press for immediate action to halt the crisis.
The extent of Russia's growing estrangement from the West was underscored when a senior US official raised the possibility that both Obama and several European leaders could skip the G8 summit due to be held in June in Sochi -- which hosted the Winter Olympics last month.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he may join Washington in snubbing the meeting.
But Putin's actions have received overwhelming support from senior lawmakers and state-controlled media in Moscow that are portraying the crisis as a battle between dangerous ultra-nationalists and Russian-speakers who are coming under increasing attack.
- G8 Sochi summit boycott -
"The situation in Ukraine is consolidating Russia's entire civil society," powerful lower house of parliament lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told reporters.
"Everyone is single-mindedly in favour of protecting our people in Ukraine."
Russia's three main news agencies also issued identical reports from Crimea Sunday claiming that Ukrainian troops were abdicating their positions and switching allegiance to the local pro-Kremlin authorities "en masse".
- Kiev protest -
Tens of thousands of people plan to gather Sunday on Kiev's Independence Square -- the crucible of both the latest wave of protests and the 2004 Orange Revolution that first nudged Kiev on a westward path -- in support of Ukraine's territorial integrity and in protest at Russia's sabre rattling.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk reassured the nation Saturday he was "convinced" Russia would not launch an offensive because "this would mean war and the end of all relations between the two countries".
And at least two senior Russian officials have indicated that Putin's right to use force did not necessarily mean that war was imminent.
"The agreement that the president received... does not mean that this right will be realised quickly," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the same agency that "for the moment, this decision has not been taken".
