ABOVE: The West responds to Russia’s annexation of Crimea with more targeted sanctions, but Vladimir Putin remains defiant. Mike Armstrong reports.
- A serviceman and a fighter were killed during an attack on Crimean base: Ukraine official
- Leaders sign treaty to join
- UN chief urges immediate talks to resolve crisis in Ukraine
- World awaits Putin’s next move
- Biden says more sanctions coming for Russia
- Canada, U.S. announce sanctions against Russian officials
Gunfire at a Ukrainian military facility in the capital of separatist Crimea killed one serviceman and a member of a local self-defence brigade, a police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Details of the Tuesday violence in Simferopol were sketchy, but the outburst underlined the high tensions over Crimea’s weekend vote to split off from Ukraine and join Russia.
Olga Kondrashova was quoted by Interfax as saying two other people were wounded in the gunfire at a remote-sensing and navigational facility.
Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces in Crimea, said on his Facebook page that the facility was stormed by unknown armed men and that one serviceman was killed and another wounded.
Seleznev told The Associated Press he did not immediately have more information than what he had posted.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia signed a treaty to incorporate Crimea into its territory following a referendum in which residents of Ukraine’s region overwhelmingly backed the move.
President Vladimir Putin signed the document Tuesday with Crimea’s prime minister and parliament speaker following a televised address to the nation, in which he vigorously defended Crimea’s vote as a restoration of historical justice.
The agreement has to be endorsed by Russia’s constitutional Court and ratified by both houses of parliament to take effect. Those steps are considered mere formalities.
Putin has accused the West of encouraging unrest in Ukraine in order to break its historic ties with Russia, and dismissed Western criticism of the Crimean vote as illegitimate.
World anxiously awaits Putin’s next move
The big question is whether Putin is willing to invade more areas of eastern Ukraine to achieve these goals.
In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Putin said that Russia doesn’t want a division of Ukraine. At the same time, he cast Ukraine as an artificial creation of the Soviet government that whimsically included some of Russia’s historic regions.
Putin’s speech made it clear that he wants the West to recognize Russian interests in Ukraine.
For the West, it all boils down to a tough dilemma over compromising with Moscow to avert military conflict or taking a hard-line stance and risking a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin has sent clear signals he could take extreme measures if he doesn’t get his way on keeping Ukraine out of NATO and ensuring that Ukraine remains in Russia’s political and economic orbit.
UN chief urges immediate talks to resolve crisis in Ukraine
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is strongly urging an immediate resumption of “constructive dialogue” among all parties to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that Ban has intensified his diplomatic efforts and has had high-level contacts with the main parties involved as well as “all those with interest.”
Biden says more sanctions coming for Russia
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden says the world has seen through Russia’s actions in Crimea and will impose more sanctions on Russia.
Biden spoke Tuesday after meeting in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He says the U.S. joins Poland and the international community in condemning the continuing assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty. He says it’s a blatant violation of international law.
Biden says virtually the entire world rejects the referendum in Crimea that cleared the way for Russia to annex the peninsula in Ukraine.
Biden’s comments come just after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to annex Crimea in neighbouring Ukraine.
French foreign minister says Russia is suspended from G8
France’s foreign minister says that leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia’s participation in the club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia’s incursion into Crimea.
The other seven members of the group had already suspended preparations for a G-8 summit that Russia is scheduled to host in June in Sochi.
France’s Laurent Fabius went further Tuesday, saying on Europe-1 radio that “concerning the G-8 … we decided to suspend Russia’s participation, and it is envisaged that all the other countries, the seven leading countries, will unite without Russia.”
Fabius did not give further details.
The U.S. and European Union on Tuesday announced new sanctions against Russia over its actions in the Crimean Peninsula.
Canada, U.S. announce sanctions against Russian officials
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has issued economic and travel sanctions against ten Russian and Ukrainian officials Monday afternoon, after saying what the Putin regime has done cannot be tolerated.
The Russian individuals include deputy prime minister Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, Sergey Yur’yevich Glaz’yev, an adviser to Putin, and Putin aide Vladislav Yur’yevich Surkov.
The Ukrainians include Serhiy Valeriyovich Aksyonov, the prime minister of Crimea and Volodymyr Andriyovych Konstantynov, chairman of the Crimean parliament.
The sanctions Canada has instituted follow steps the Obama administration took Monday morning to freeze the assets of seven Russian officials, including top advisers to Putin.
EU poised to slap further sanctions on Russia
The EU’s foreign ministers slapped travel bans and asset freezes against 21 officials from Russia and Ukraine following Crimea’s referendum. The ministers did not immediately release the names and nationalities of those targeted by the sanctions.
But markets appeared to signal that the Western sanctions lacked punch – with bourses both in Russia and Europe rising sharply on relief that they won’t hit trade of business ties.
- Russia marks 1st step in absorbing Crimea
- Canada, U.S. announce sanctions against Russian officials
- EU poised to slap further sanctions on Russia
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