Ukraine says it will not fight Russia over Crimea
“Unfortunately, for now Russia is rejecting a diplomatic solution to the
conflict,” he said. “They are refusing all contact at foreign ministry and
top government level.”
Russia’s first military involvement in a neighbouring country since its brief
2008 war with Georgia has sparked an explosive security crisis and exposed
major rifts between Western allies over ways to deal with Putin’s
undisguised efforts to rebuild vestiges of the Soviet state.
Washington has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Russians held
responsible for violating the territorial integrity of the culturally
splintered nation of 46 million people.
But the European Union – its financial and energy sectors much more dependent
on Russia than those of the United States – has only threatened tougher
measures after taking the lighter step of suspending free travel and broad
economic treaty talks.
The standoff has also seen US Secretary of State John Kerry deliver a snub of
immense diplomatic proportions by refusing a visit to Moscow that could have
included a meeting with the Kremlin chief.
But the show of Western displeasure has not kept Putin from effectively taking
Crimea and threatening to use force to “protect” the interests of ethnic
Russians living in the east of Ukraine.
The international community’s almost unanimous rejection of the referendum’s
legitimacy has done little to slow Russia’s attempt to redraw Europe’s
post-war borders by absorbing a region that was handed to Ukraine as a
“gift” when it was still a Soviet republic in 1954.
Russia’s parliament is due on March 21 to consider legislation that would
simplify the procedure under which Moscow can annex part of another country
that has proclaimed independence – as Crimean lawmakers did Tuesday.
Ukraine’s soldiers and marines have won plaudits from Western leaders for
refusing to open fire against Russian troops and Kremlin-backed militia who
have encircled their bases and kept their ships from going out to sea.
Mr Turchynov said that as commander in chief he fully realised the futility of
launching an all-out war against a much larger invading force that has
nuclear weapons and tens of thousands of additional troops stationed just
inside Russia.
“Significant tank units are massed near Ukraine’s eastern border,” the acting
president said in the interview.
“They’re provoking us to have a pretext to intervene on the Ukrainian
mainland… (but) we cannot follow the scenario written by the Kremlin.”
Mr Putin has accused Mr Turchynov and Mr Yatsenyuk of rising to power through
an “unconstitutional coup” that came at the apex of three months of
pro-Western protests that claimed 100 lives and forced Mr Yanukovych to flee
to Russia.
Mr Turchynov said Moscow has turned down his overtures for dialogue despite
efforts by leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel to set up an
“international contact group” through which all sides could air their
grievances in search of a compromise.
He called the Crimea referendum a “sham” whose outcome had been already
decided “in the offices of the Kremlin”.
Mr Turchynov also rubbished as “madness” claims that Russian-speakers in
Ukraine faced discrimination following the rise of new and more nationalist
leaders to power in Kyiv.
The White House is leaving no doubt about the message it intends to send to
Russia with the visit of Yatsenyuk – a leader Moscow considers illegitimate.
He will be greeted by Obama in the Oval Office – a symbol of US power – like
any other foreign leader and also meet Vice President Joe Biden who rushed
back from a trip to South America to join the talks.
Washington said Mr Yatsenyuk’s reception was intended to show that it believed
that Kyiv’s interim government has been playing a responsible role in the
crisis.
“We strongly support Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the legitimacy of the
new Ukrainian government,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
But Mr Carney also stressed that the White House was still offering the
Kremlin an “off ramp” for ending the dispute without any bloodshed and with
Ukraine’s territorial integrity held intact.
Mr Yatsenyuk will also use the chance to iron out the details of a $35 billion
(25 billion euro) aid package he says his nation’s teetering economy needs
to stay afloat over the coming two years after being mismanaged by
Yanukovych – now living in self-imposed exile in Russia.
The White House said Mr Obama would discuss an economic support package that
has already seen Washington pledge more than $1 billion and the European
Union 11 billion euros over two years.