Speaking to a crowd in Moscow Tuesday afternoon, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Moscow’s plan to annex the autonomous region of Ukraine.
“Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people,” Putin said.
On Sunday, Crimeans voted overwhelmingly in a referendum—which witnesses say included extensive voting irregularities—to break the autonomous republic away from Ukraine and be absorbed into Russia. The president informed his parliament Tuesday that Crimea had requested to join the country, the first step towards formal annexation of the region. He also approved a draft bill on its accession.
Putin couched the decision to annex Crimea as a necessary step to correct historical wrongs and protect the human rights of Russians in Crimea. “We’ve seen attempts to ban the Russian language to assimilate the Russian population and of course Russians just like other minorities suffered from constant political crisis that Ukraine’s been going through for 20 years,” he said.
(MOSCOW) — President Vladimir Putin has defended Russia’s move to annex Crimea, saying that the rights of ethnic Russians have been abused by the Ukrainian government.
In a televised address to the nation, he said Tuesday that Crimea’s vote Sunday to join Russia is in line with international law, reflecting its right for self-determination.
He pointed at the example of Kosovo’s independence bid, supported by the West, and said that Crimea’s secession from Ukraine repeats Ukraine’s own secession from the Soviet Union in 1991.
He denied Western accusations that Russia invaded Crimea prior to the referendum, saying Russian troops were sent there in line with a treaty with Ukraine that allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops at its Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea.
In meetings with the leaders of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to shore up the NATO alliance and build solidarity in the face of the Ukraine crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine's Crimea region has always been an "inalienable" part of Russia -- yet another move likely to further escalate tensions with Ukraine and the West.Mr. Putin was outlining Crimea's importance to Russia Tuesday in a speech before the Russian parliament. On Monday, Mr. Putin endorsed a draft treaty to make Crimea part of the Russian Federation. To come into force, the treaty must go through several more procedures including...
Putin: Crimea vote extremely convincing by CNNInternational
 |
Russian President Vladimir Putin discusses Crimea's referendum vote to join Russia.
|
From: CNNInternational
Views:
18
ratings |
| Time: 01:21 | More in News & Politics |
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to annex the breakaway Ukrainian region of Crimea, defying Western sanctions against senior officials and denunciations of the move as a violation of international law.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
Russian president makes speech laced with bluster and anger at west, saying Russia has been 'cheated again and again'
Follow the latest developments on our live blog
Follow the latest developments on our live blog
Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Crimea on Tuesday in a searing speech to assembled political elites in Moscow shot through with angry rhetoric about western aggression and hypocrisy.
The Russian president summoned the federal assembly, which includes both houses of parliament and all key political leaders, for an extraordinary session in the Kremlin's St George Hall.
Putin delivered an hour-long speech laced with patriotic bluster and anger at the west, whose politicians he said "call something white today and black tomorrow".
He was frequently interrupted by applause and at the end of the speech signed documents together with the de facto leader of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov – who came to power after seizing the local parliament at gunpoint last month – to absorb the territory into Russia.
Putin recognised Crimea as an independent state late on Monday evening, making it easier toincorporate into the Russian Federation than if it were still Ukrainian territory. Kiev has said it will never give up its claim to Crimea, but is unable to respond to Russia militarily due to the huge disparity in their respective martial forces.
Ukrainian politician Vitali Klitschko, who will stand in presidential elections in May, called on Tuesday for Ukraine to sever diplomatic ties with Russia.
Announcing the suspension of joint naval exercises with Russia and of export licences for military items to Moscow, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, said Putin had chosen the "route of isolation". The US vice-president, Joe Biden, said the world had rejected Russia's "flawed logic" and threatened further sanctions.
"In the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia," said Putin, who added that ethnic Russians had found themselves isolated from the motherland when the Soviet Union collapsed, both in Crimea and elsewhere.
"Millions of Russians went to sleep in one country and woke up living abroad, as a national minority in former republics of the union. The Russian people became one of the biggest, if not the biggest, split-up nation in the world."
Putin aired a list of foreign policy grievances going back to 2000, saying "we were cheated again and again, with decisions being taken behind our back", and insisted that it was ludicrous to claim the precedent of Kosovo – which was recognised by the west as an independent country following its secession from Serbia – as unique.
"How would our colleagues claim its uniqueness? It turns out because during the Kosovo conflict there were many human casualties. What, is that supposed to be a valid legal argument?" he asked.
With the annexation of Crimea considered a fait accompli, Kiev and the west are now looking with anxiety to eastern Ukraine, where a number of protests by elements of the Russian-speaking population have ended in violence and led the Russian foreign ministry to speak about the possible necessity of "defending" Russian speakers there.
"Don't believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other regions will follow after Crimea," said Putin on Tuesday, going some way to allaying those fears. "We do not want a partition of Ukraine. We do not need this."
However, he reiterated his belief that Moscow feels the Kiev government is illegitimate, and also referenced long-held Russian fears of encirclement by the west.
"I do not want to be welcomed in Sevastopol by Nato sailors," said Putin, speaking of the Crimean port where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based. The city has special status within Crimea, and officially, Russia will welcome two new nations into its fold: Crimea, and the city of Sevastopol.
In Crimea itself, thousands gathered in Sevastopol to watch Putin's speech on a big screen in the main square and broke into the Russian national anthem when it was over. In the Crimean capital, Simferopol, men on ladders removed the large gold Ukrainian-language lettering on the regional parliament.
It is expected that in the coming months Crimea will switch to the rouble and introduce Moscow time and the Russian visa system. Russia will begin ratification of the treaty to formalise Crimea's annexation within days.
The grab of Crimea went ahead despite the US and EU announcing sanctions against several top Russian officials on Monday. On Tuesday the foreign ministry responded angrily to the sanctions and said reciprocal measures would be introduced.
"Attempts to speak to Russia in the language of force and threaten Russian citizens with sanctions will lead nowhere," said the ministry's statement.
"The adoption of restrictive measures is not our choice; however, it is clear that the imposition of sanctions against us will not go without an adequate response from the Russian side."
theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Read the whole story
· · · · · ·
US, G-7 Members Had Already, in Rebuke To Russia, Suspended Preparations For G-8 Meeting In Russia
Putin: Crimea vote extremely convincing by CNNInternational
 |
Russian President Vladimir Putin discusses Crimea's referendum vote to join Russia.
|
From: CNNInternational
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 02:51 | More in News & Politics |
In address to adoring MPs, president makes clear the Ukraine crisis is a sign that Russia will no longer take things lying down
Vladimir Putin likes to take his kit off in public. But Tuesday's exhibition of naked power by Russia's president at a joint parliamentary session in Moscow was delivered fully clothed before a conservatively suited audience of officials and adoring, applauding fans dressed up as MPs.
Speaking at a white rostrum amid flags, flourishes and gold leaf, a dapper-looking Putin's message was clear: after years of being cheated and dissed by the western powers, Russia is back. The US and friends could like it or lump it. But as the Ukraine crisis showed, Russia would no longer take it lying down.
Putin spoke primarily about Crimea, whose cause was "sacred" and whose return to the Russian fold was justified, democratic and legal. But his broader theme was that Russia was finally standing up for its rights nearly a quarter of a century after the Soviet collapse.
Russia was fully aware of the possible negative consequences in its relations with the west of Crimea's annexation, he said. But in handing over the region to Ukraine in 1954 like "a sack of potatoes", Nikita Khrushchev had erred, and now that wrong was being righted.
Crimea's independence, declared on Monday, lasted precisely 24 hours. Sugaring the pill, Putin went out of his way to placate the Tartar minority, which largely boycotted Sunday's referendum, promising equal language rights, acknowledgement of Stalin-era injustices, and full rehabilitation into a "common homeland".
The Tartars, he said, were back where they belonged – an assurance those with longer memoriesmay find alarming.
He also pledged support for a strong, prosperous Ukraine, claiming Russia was not planning to rescue ethnic Russian minorities in "other regions after Crimea … we don't need that". This may come as a relief to politicians and pundits proclaiming a new cold war – if they believe him, that is.
At the same time, Putin directed some trademark insults at the new government in Kiev, whose leaders he said had seized power in a coup last month using "terror, violence and pogroms". These people were neo-Nazis, nationalists, antisemites and anti-Russians whose antecedents could be traced back to Adolf Hitler. "There is no one to negotiate with [in Kiev]. I'm not kidding." Following this undemocratic putsch, Russia could not possibly have left Crimea "in the lurch". To do so would have been treachery.
And anyway, he said, Crimeans had a right to self-determination, just like the people of Kosovo or any other aspiring independent nation. He did not mention Scotland. Luckily for Alex Salmond, there are not many distressed ethnic Russians on the Upper Clyde.
Putin is no orator. His delivery is wooden. His expression rarely changes. A smile seems like a concession. Even when his words grow angry and accusatory, his face remains impassive. This surface lack of feeling, concealing deep resentments, has a chilling effect.
While his address to the Duma covered a wide range of issues including relations with the US and Germany, it was in large part a 50-minute whinge, a disappointed man's whine about life's unfairness and a historical determinism that boomeranged on its most devout adherents.
Putin is a master of the politics of grievance. The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union meant that "millions" of Russians had gone to bed in one country and woken up in another. The Russian motherland – the rodina – had been divided, then preyed upon by its enemies.
It was "inconceivable" that Russia and Ukraine should have been separated, he said, but that is what had happened. The ill-fated Commonwealth of Independent States was supposed to hold the former Soviet lands together, but it had been betrayed.
The western powers led by America had wilfully destroyed the power balance of the bipolar world. "The west believed it was entrusted by God to decide the fate of other peoples," he complained. They used pressure and coalitions to get what they wanted, and if they did not, they ignored the UN security council and used military force.
This is what had happened in 1999, when Belgrade, capital of Russia's ally Serbia, was bombed by Nato. Something similar had happened in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Because of western exploitation and manipulation, the Arab spring had become the "Arab winter".
Russia itself, meanwhile, had been "cheated and deceived" as Nato steadily expanded eastwards, the US pursued missile defence plans, and issues such freer trade and visa liberalisation were delayed.
Putin's bitterness and bile poured out unchecked, mixed up with an apparently bolstered but unfounded confidence that the US and the EU are virtually incapable of beating back Russia's new cross-border assertiveness.
Western countries claimed Russia had broken international law by intervening in Crimea, he said. But this was sheer hypocrisy – another glaring example of the double standards displayed by the US and others. "It is good they realise international law still exists. Better late than never," he said.
theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
Ukraine: Crimea still Ukrainian territory by CNNInternational
 |
CNN's Ivan Watson reports on the Ukrainian reaction to the Russian treaty with Crimea and plans to annex the region.
|
From: CNNInternational
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 02:45 | More in News & Politics |
Kremlin: Crimea now part of Russia by CNNInternational
 |
Vladimir Putin signs a treaty with Crimean leaders, moving to officially make the region part of the Russian Federation.
|
From: CNNInternational
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 05:34 | More in News & Politics |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
 |
In his address to the Federal Council, President Vladimir V. Putin asks it to ratify the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia. Read the story here: ...
|
From: The New York Times
Views: 33
10 ratings
|
| Time: 01:45 | More in News & Politics |
(WASHINGTON) — A senior State Department official says the Syrian government has been told it must immediately suspend its diplomatic and consular missions in the United States.
The order Tuesday essentially shutters the Syrian embassy in Washington and its honorary consulates in Troy, Mich., and Houston, Texas, and forces all personnel who are not legal U.S. residents to leave the country.
It comes three years since the start of the bloody civil war in Syria that has killed more than 140,000 people.
U.S. special envoy to Syria Daniel Rubenstein said the order responds to a decision by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad to suspend its own consular services.
However, Rubenstein said the U.S. wants to continue diplomatic relations with Syria and maintain a relationship if Assad steps down from power.
Russian troops storm a military base in the Crimean capital Simferopol, injuring one serviceman, say reports.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest steps to annex Crimea, saying its allies are ready to enact more sanctions to punish Russia.
Putin signs treaty on Crimea joining Russia by AFP news agency
 |
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a treaty with the leaders of Crimea on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula becoming part of Russia, state television...
|
From: AFP news agency
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 01:06 | More in News & Politics |
President Vladimir Putin signs a treaty which absorbs Crimea into Russia on Tuesday, saying the peninsula has always been part of Russia
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 4
VIENNA (Reuters) - Ukrainian industrialist Dmytro Firtash, arrested in Austria last week at the request of the United States pending his possible extradition for suspected corruption, accused Washington on Tuesday of having him detained for "purely political" reasons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and officials from Crimea signed a treaty Tuesday to make the Black Sea peninsula part of Russia, just two days after it voted to secede from Ukraine in a referendum the United States and the European Union call "illegal."Mr. Putin signed the document with the prime minister of Crimea's regional government, the speaker of Crimea's parliament, and the mayor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based....
Tensions in the disputed region of Crimea reached new heights Tuesday as Ukraine said a military officer was killed shortly after Russia formally annexed the breakaway peninsula.
Interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk blamed Russian forces—who he said stormed a Ukranian military outpost near the city of Simferopol—for the killing.
“Today, Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen,” he said, according to AFP. “This is a war crime.”
His claim could not be immediately verified, but if true, it would mark the first fatality in clashes between the two countries’ militaries during the weeks-long crisis in Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, delivering a televised address to the country’s parliament on Tuesday, defended his country’s decision to absorb the region after it voted Sunday to split from Ukraine.
“Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people,” Putin said.
Iran and the six world powers have launched a new round of nuclear talks as increasing tensions between the West and Russia cast a shadow over the negotiations.The latest discussions began Tuesday in Vienna after what a spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief described as a "constructive" meeting between Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.Later, the full delegations sat down together for talks expected to end late...
KIEV - Ukraine’s new pro-Western government voiced restraint on Tuesday in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s moves to officially annex Crimea, pledging that Ukraine would not join NATO and would take steps to improve ties with Moscow.
Read full article >>
     |
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Crimea signed a treaty Tuesday to make the Black Sea peninsula part of Russia, just two days after it voted to secede from Ukraine in a referendum the United States and the European Union declared "illegal."Mr. Putin signed the document with the prime minister of Crimea's regional government, the speaker of Crimea's parliament, and the mayor of the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based. The...
