US President Barack Obama speaks during his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California February 14, 2014. PHOTO: REUTERS
MOSCOW:
The White House vowed on Tuesday to level more sanctions against Russia for its moves to annex the Crimea.
“We condemn Russia’s moves to formally annex Crimea,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, noting that there had already been sanctions designations against Russian officials. “There are more to come,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming the Black Sea region of Crimea as Russian territory as Ukraine warned the showdown had entered a “military stage” with the killing of one of its soldiers on the peninsula.
Putin’s speech drew immediate hostile reaction in Kiev. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said the conflict in Crimea had moved from a political to a military. “Today Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen. This is a war crime,” he said. He was referring to an incident at a compound near the capital Simferopol where a Ukrainian officer was shot dead and another injured when “unknown forces, fully equipped and their faces covered” attacked the base.
Russia’s ‘land grab’
Western leaders urged a tougher response to the taking of Crimea. US Vice President Joe Biden called Moscow’s action a “land grab” and stressed on Washington’s commitment to defend Nato allies on Russian borders.
Threatening Putin with more serious consequences, British premier David Cameron said, “It is completely unacceptable for Russia to use force to change borders, on the basis of a sham referendum held at the barrel of a Russian gun.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia Russia was guilty of repeatedly breaking international law.
G8 suspension?
France’s foreign ministry soon backed down on comments made earlier by its Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Fabius saying that Russia had been suspended from the G8. “We are suspending our work and our participation in the G8 as has already been announced,” ministry spokesman Romain Nadal clarified to reporters, referring to the scheduled G8 Summit in Sochi in June. “That’s what the minister meant.”
The White House said leaders will hold a Group of Seven (G7) summit without Russia on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in The Hague next week to consider further responses to the crisis.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2014.
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If referendum results clearly state the will of Crimea's people to reunite with Russia, then why is West trying to create a dispute in this regard. I believe Putin should be complimented for annexing Crimea, without any fear of sanctions the west might impose. He didn't let the whole world create another "Kashmir" out of Crimea. A brave step indeed.
One feels sorry for the pathetic position the Ukraine Prime Minister is in.......he should have realised that when two elephants fight, the grass under their feet gets badly mauled.