Russia Stays in Ukraine as Putin Channels Yanukovych Request
By Sangwon Yoon, Daryna Krasnolutska and Kateryna Choursina Mar 4, 2014 2:56 AM ET
Russia justified its intervention in the Crimea as a legitimate response to a request from Ukraine’s ousted president amid threats posed by extremists, while Western leaders sought to keep the standoff from spiraling into war.
The U.S. condemned what it called a breach of Ukraine’s sovereignty after Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said yesterday the crisis is creating serious risks to Russian security and to the safety of millions of Russian-speakers in southeastern Ukraine. Russia ended a military drill on time yesterday.
Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting a military deployment, Churkin said.
“It’s completely legitimate under Russian law, and given the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, this threat and the threat to our compatriots, Russian citizens and the Black Sea Fleet,” Churkin told a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, reading out loud the March 1 letter from Yanukovych.
Crimea, where ethnic Russians comprise the majority, has become the focal point of the crisis after an uprising in Kiev caused Yanukovych to flee to Russia. Ukraine has mobilized its army and requested foreign observers after Russian forces took control of the peninsula, where Russia keeps its Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol. Russian forces had ordered Ukrainian warships in Crimea to surrender, Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said yesterday.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-04/russia-calls-ukraine-intervention-legal-citing-yanukovych-letter.html
