AFP/Reuters
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia had the right to use “all means” to protect its citizens in Ukraine but denied he had already deployed troops there, as the West pressed Moscow in a Cold War-style standoff over the ex-Soviet state.
His comments, which calmed frightened markets somewhat, came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev for talks with interim leaders.
“We are going to help you. We are helping you. President (Barack) Obama is planning for more assistance,” Kerry told the crowds as he visited a shrine to commemorate those killed in Kiev’s uprising last month.
Washington said that it will provide $1bn in loan guarantees to Ukraine, while the European Commission said it would also offer an aid package reportedly worth more than 1bn euros.
The United States and the European Union also warned Russia would likely face sanctions as early as this week if Moscow did not de-escalate the situation.
There was no immediate sign of an end to tensions in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, however.
Pro-Moscow forces remained in de-facto control of the strategic Black Sea territory that has housed the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century.
The scale of the tensions was underlined yesterday when a Ukrainian officer said Russian forces surrounding an air base in Belbek near the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol fired warning shots at Ukrainian servicemen trying to approach (
Breaking his silence since the removal of Russian-backed Yanukovych from power, Putin defended a strategy that has drawn charges from the West that events in Ukraine have exposed his Cold War-style thinking.
Looking relaxed at a news conference, the former KGB spy tried to turn the tables on the West, wondering out loud what would result from Washington’s latest experiment in democracy with “lab rats” in Ukraine.
“There can be only one assessment of what happened in Kiev, in Ukraine in general. This was an unconstitutional coup and the armed seizure of power. No one argues with this. Who can argue with it?” Putin asked a small group of reporters at a state residence near Moscow. “This is the last resort. We believe, have believed and will believe, that Ukraine is not only our closest neighbour but a brotherly republic.”
Fielding questions for more than an hour, the 61-year-old made his case for Russia’s position on Ukraine, doing little to bridge the gulf in the understanding between the West and Moscow of what happened in Ukraine over the last week.
He denied that Russian troops had seized Ukraine’s southern Crimea region, where armed men, with no insignia but bearing all the marks of their Russian origins, have taken control of all official buildings and some army bases.
“No, they did not participate,” he said. “There are lots of uniforms that look similar.”
However, Putin stressed that “we reserve the right to use all means to protect” Russia and Ukrainian citizens, though an invasion would be “an extreme measure”.
Putin said that there was currently “no need” to send troops into Ukraine.
At the same time, he dismissed the authority of Kiev’s new government, saying that Yanukovych remained the “legitimate” leader.
Yanukovych, he said, had requested Russian military action in Ukraine.
Putin also said Russia would not encourage separatist moves in Ukraine, where many are Russian speakers and have closer ties to Russia than to the leaders in Kiev seeking stronger relations with the European Union.
Crimea’s prime minister has said he will hold a referendum on the region’s status later this month and that he could bring it forward from March 30.
“Even if I take a decision to use armed force, it will be legitimate, fully corresponding to the norms of international law,” Putin said. “And, in this case, it would also correspond to our interest in protecting the people who are closely tied to us historically, culturally, economically.”
Pointing the finger of blame at the West for stirring passions in Ukraine, he said the overthrow of Yanukovych was orchestrated by “Western instructors”.
While it was clear many in Ukraine wanted change to rid the country of the corruption and nepotism associated with Yanukovych’s rule, Putin said, it was not clear they wanted a new government that would not offer an equal say to all Ukrainians.
“And this is not the first time our Western partners are doing this in Ukraine. Sometimes I get the impression that across the pond, somewhere in America, staff at some laboratory are sitting there conducting experiments, like on rats, without understanding the consequences of what they are doing,” the Russian president said.
Putin’s comments about Russian use of force were interpreted by markets as a possible easing of the worst crisis in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
European markets bounced back from deep losses suffered on Monday, when fears of war breaking out on Europe’s eastern edge had taken hold, axing more than 10% of the value of shares trading in Moscow and sending the ruble to historic lows.
Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom said it would end a discount it gives Ukraine on gas prices from April but proposed a loan of up to $3bn to Kiev to cover its debt.
The West indicated yesterday that it would not let up its pressure on Russia.
A US official travelling with Kerry to Kiev said Russia was “likely” to face US moves to introduce sanctions as early as this week.
EU foreign ministers on Monday, condemning Russia’s actions, had warned that ties with Moscow were at risk unless it reversed course and took steps to de-escalate the crisis by the emergency summit of EU leaders tomorrow.
Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will travel to Brussels to meet the EU leaders before the summit.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Madrid and then go on to Kiev today.
Lavrov called threats of sanctions were “ill-advised”.
“Our position is honest and ... will not change,” Lavrov told reporters during an official visit to Tunisia. “We have always opposed the policy of unilateral sanctions. I hope our partners understand that such actions are counter-productive.”
Beyond sanctions, though, the United States and its allies appear to have limited options in dealing with Putin’s actions on Ukraine, which many saw as a bid to rebuild vestiges of the Soviet empire.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned there was no solution in sight after a “difficult” discussion in Geneva yesterday with Lavrov.
“I can’t run up a flag to say that we are on the way to finding a solution and that Ukraine and Russia are about to start talking,” he added.
Foreign Secretary William Hague, meanwhile, insisted that Britain’s options in dealing with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis remained open after an official document suggesting London was opposed to trade sanctions was photographed in a senior official’s hand and made public.
Hague did not deny the content of the briefing paper. But he insisted that Britain’s options remained “very much open”.