Yanukovych was
elected president in 2010, defeating Yulia Tymoshenko.
November 2013 saw the beginning of a series of events that led to his ouster as
president. Yanukovych rejected a pending EU association agreement, choosing instead to pursue a Russian loan bailout
and closer ties with Russia. This led to peaceful popular protests and the
occupation of Kiev's
Independence Square.
In January 2014 this developed into deadly clashes in Independence
Square and in
areas across Ukraine pitting Ukrainians citizens against the Berkut and other special police units. In February 2014, Ukraine appeared to
be on the brink of civil war, as violent clashes between protesters and special
police forces led to many deaths and injuries. On 21 February Yanukovych fled
the capital for Kharkiv, next travelling to Crimea, and eventually to
southern Russia.
 Crimea (black), Ukraine (light green) and Russia (light red) in Europe |
2014, following the events of the violent 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, armed men
began a bloodless take-over of millitary bases and border crossings of the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine and Western governments generally allege the men were Russian
Special Forces[35][36] and allied paramilitaries. The Russian government, however, insists that
the forces did not include Russian military, but only local "self
defense" forces. The region has fallen into a crisis as a result of the tension between Russia and NATO triggered by the
Ukrainian Revolution and Crimea being reunited to Russia. Russia’s involvement
and acceptance of Crimea's request to reunite with Russia is portrayed as a
violation of international law by the European Union and the United States, though
have failed to state exactly what international law(s). Russia has been
welcomed by a majority of the local population.
Because Nikita Khrushchev, gifted Crimea to the Ukraine in 1954 without
permitting the local population to vote on the matter the latest change can be
seen as a democratic reunification, similar to the reunification of East and
West Germany. The recent Crimean referendum recorded an attendance of 84% and vote in favour of unification with
Russia of 96%. A number of Western nations tried to apply pressure on Crimea
and Russia to prevent the reunification through threats of sanctions.
According to a pact between
Ukraine and Russia, Russia had a lease for their naval facilities in Crimea until 2042, and maintained
the right to use some small areas of Crimea, up to 25,000 troops, 24 artillery
systems, 132 armored vehicles, and 22 military planes on the Crimean peninsula.
On February 24, 2014, additional soldiers arrived,[ on the Crimean Peninsula, but the total
number remained well below 25,000. They militarily control the Crimea region.
The Crimean Peninsula is Russia's strategic link to the Mediterranean Sea,
Black Sea, and the Balkans. The Russian government maintains that its
involvement in Crimea seeks to protect ethnic Russians in the region against
repression and violence. Russia does not recognize the newly installed interim
government in Ukraine, instead considering now-ousted-President Viktor Yanukovych Ukraine's
legitimate leader. Russia states that Yanukovych asked Russia to intervene in
Ukraine militarily to maintain peace and order. Russia claims that its armed forces are not
involved in the present stand-off, and also asserts that use of force for the
purposes of humanitarian
intervention in Ukraine has not yet
occurred.
The Ukrainian response so far has been muted as its leaders seek diplomatic
solutions, with military reaction on their part limited to a mobilization of Ukraine's
armed forces and reserves. Russia, however, has vowed
that its troops will stay until the political situation has been
"normalised". Internally, Crimea held a referendum
on 16 March 2014 on whether Crimea should join
the Russian Federation or remain part of Ukraine with the autonomy it had in
1992. The two options on the referendum both acknowledged Russian control of
the peninsula. The referendum resulted in a turnout of over 81%, where over 95%
of voters supported Crimea joining the Russian Federation. The events have
caused alarm among the Crimean Tatar ethnic group, whose members were deported en
masse to Central Asia in 1944 under orders from Joseph Stalin, with a
huge death toll.
At the international level, the United States, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey,
Australia and the European Union condemned
Russia, accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian
sovereignty. While initially China neither publicly supported nor criticized
Russia while showing support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and abstaining
at the United
Nations Security Council, it later warned that it
"doesn't want" sanctions against Russia. India considers that Russia
has legitimate interests in Crimea. The Russian President called the Indian
Prime Minister to explain the situation, after Crimea's reunification with
Russia, where Prime Minister Singh "emphasized the consistent position
India has on the issues of unity and territorial integrity of countries".
In his speech to the joint session in Duma on the eve of Crimea's
reunification with Russia, Putin thanked China and India for supporting the
Russian stand. In his own words, "...we are grateful to all those who
understood our actions in Crimea; we are grateful to the people of China, whose
leaders have always considered the situation in Ukraine and Crimea taking into
account the full historical and political context, and greatly appreciate
India’s reserve and objectivity.”
Russia has denied accusations of a military intervention in Crimea. In Vladimir Putin's words,
the world has not "heard of any intervention without a single shot being
fired".
On March 23, Belbek air base, under Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, known for its defiance and non-violent resistance, was the last Ukrainian
military base to fall under heavy Russian assault. Col. Mamchur was arrested by
Russian forces.
By March 22, Russia had troops on virtually all of the country’s border
with Ukraine with corridors from Russia to major Ukrainian cities reinforced
with armor, attack airplanes, and helicopters. According to the defense ministry
in Moscow, the number of Russian troops along the border is expected to double
in preparation for military exercises near eastern Ukraine.
Reactions
March 17, 2014 - Council
Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 of 17 March 2014 concerning restrictive measures in
respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity,
sovereignty and independence of Ukraine The EU published a list of sanctions against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials after a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. The list includes the acting prime minister of Crimea, the speaker of Crimea's parliament, three senior Russian commanders and several senior Russian parliamentary officials.
March 21, 2014 - Council Implementing Decision 2014/151/CFSP of 21 March 2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine
Council Regulation (EU) No. 269/2014, the Regulation imposing financial sanctions in respect of Ukraine (Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity), has been amended so that an asset freeze now applies to the persons listed in the annex.
http://www.sanctionswiki.org/Ukraine
On 6 March, Obama signed Executive Order 13660, Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the
Situation in Ukraine, authorizing sanctions against persons who, being
determined by the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Secretary
of State, have violated or assisted in the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty
On 17 March, Obama signed Executive Order 13661, Blocking Property of
Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, which expanded
the scope of the previous sanctions imposed by EO 13660, to include the
freezing of certain Russian government officials' assets in the US and blocking
their entry into the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reactions_to_the_2014_Crimean_crisis
Russia shrugs off
threat of permanent expulsion from G8 – article from The Guardian
Sergei Lavrov says: if our western partners say there is no future for G8,
'then so be it. We are not clinging to that format. The G8 is an informal club,
with no formal membership, so no one can be expelled from it.'
The Russian foreign minister has shrugged off the threat of exclusion from
meetings of the world's largest industrial countries and the suspension of the G8, saying
that Moscow was "not clinging to" membership of what he described as
an informal group.
Sergei Lavrov was speaking minutes after his first meeting with his
Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Deshchytsia, at the margins of the global nuclear
security summit in The Hague. He said that he would maintain contacts with the
authorities in Kiev, but gave no sign of any breakthrough in the impasse over
the future of Crimea.
He drew a comparison between Crimea and Kosovo and asked whether the west
wanted "blood to [be] shed" in the same way.
As he was speaking, leaders from the G7 industrialised countries, including
Barack Obama, David Cameron, Angela Merkel and François Hollande, were meeting
nearby in the Dutch prime minister's residence, to discuss how to increase punitive
pressure on Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Western diplomats said they expected a joint
statement dissolving the G8 group, which has provided a forum for contacts
between the western industrialised world and Russia since 1998.
"As long as the political environment for the G8 is not at hand, as is
the case at the moment, there is no G8 – neither as a concrete summit meeting
or even as a format for meetings," Angela Merkel, the German chancellor,
said before the talks. Lavrov presented the threat as insignificant.
"The G8 is an informal club, with no formal membership, so no one can
be expelled from it," Lavrov said. "Its raison d'etre was for
deliberations between western industrialised countries and Russia, but there
are other fora for that now … so if our western partners say there is no
future for that format, then so be it. We are not clinging to that format."
He claimed to have won "understanding" for Russia's stance from
countries including Brazil, India China and South Africa.
Shortly before his meeting with Lavrov, Deshchytsia, the acting Ukrainian
foreign minister, said his government had been seeking such an encounter for
three weeks, "to establish a dialogue on how we can peacefully settle the
conflict that exists between Ukraine and Russia".
"We wanted to find out what they are thinking about Ukraine and what
they are thinking of their plans towards Ukraine," Deshchytsia said.
"We want to live peacefully with Russia. We want our nations to
co-exist and they will co-exist. So we wanted to sit down around the table and find
a solution, maybe drink vodka. But since we don't know their plans, the
possibility for a military intervention is very high, taking into consideration
the intel information about the deployment of a very big number of Russian
troops on the eastern borders of Ukraine.
"We are very much worried about the concentration of troops on our
eastern borders but at the same time we are ready to defend our homeland. Our
military and civilians living in eastern Ukraine – Ukrainians, Russians other
nationalities – are ready to defend their homeland, and our military is also
ready to defend Ukraine."
