Obama: We stand with Ukraine
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Ukrainian interim Prime Minister praises U.S. for aid package
- G7 nations issue strongly worded warning to Russia to halt its actions in Crimea
- Pro-Russians tighten their grip of security measures ahead of Sunday referendum
- U.S. ambassador to OSCE cites indications Russian forces are directly involved in Crimea
But Yatsenyuk also said
after his meeting with Obama at the White House that Ukraine, a former
Soviet Republic, wants to be good friends with Russia.
"We will continue to say
to the Russian government that if it continues on the path that is on,
then not only us but the international community ... will be forced to
apply a cost to Russia's violations of international law," Obama told
reporters. "There is another path available, and we hope that (Russian)
President (Vladimir) Putin is willing seize that path."
Yatsenyuk -- who took
over after the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian former
president of Ukraine -- said that Ukraine is fighting for its freedom.
"We fight for our
sovereignty, and we will never surrender," he said. Later he added that
he wanted to be clear that Ukraine "is and will be a part of the Western
world" but still a "good friend and partner of Russia."
At a meeting of an international affairs think tank called the Atlantic Council in Washington, Yatsenyuk further explained.
"We still want to have a
free (and) equal partnership with Russia. And you can't do it having a
military incursion. We do not consider a military option as the best
option on how to fix this crisis," he said.
'We completely reject' Crimea referendum
Crimean independence up for a vote
Pro-Russian militias solidify hold
Naval standoff on the Black Sea
Even as the leaders met
earlier pro-Russian forces were tightening their grip in Crimea ahead of
a secession referendum denounced by the West.
Well-armed men have effectively isolated the Crimean peninsula, which has an ethnic Russian majority, from the rest of Ukraine.
Tensions flared
Wednesday at a Ukrainian military base in Novoozernoye, in western
Crimea. A CNN team saw Ukrainian forces load and cock their weapons as
what appeared to be Russian soldiers moved in on the base and placed a
heavy machine gun at the gates. The Russian troops pulled back.
Yatsenyuk first met U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry before heading to the White House and
later met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He will go to New York
on Thursday to address the United Nations Security Council. The
Ukrainian delegation will also meet with Congress, the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund while in Washington, in an indication of
international support for Ukraine's fledgling government.
Yatsenyuk's visit comes
as breakneck preparations are under way for a Sunday referendum in
Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula -- to be held largely in secret -- and
tensions persist around Simferopol, Crimea's capital.
Flights to Crimea from
Kiev, Istanbul and several other cities have been suspended for the rest
of the week, with only those originating from Moscow landing.
Crimeans will be able to
choose between two alternatives when they vote: Do you support
reuniting Crimea with Russia, as a subject of the Russian Federation?
Or, do you support the restoration of the 1992 Constitution of the
Republic of Crimea and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine?
The Crimean Electoral
Commission was delivering referendum ballots to regional administrative
buildings, according to the body's head, Michail Malishev.
The new pro-Russian
government on the peninsula in Ukraine's southeast said Tuesday that if
the voters opt to join Russia, the first step will be to declare Crimea
an independent and sovereign state. Then it will apply to join the
Russian Federation.
Crimea's representatives have already approached Moscow with their idea. Russian leaders have greeted them with open arms.
Diplomatic pressure
Russian-speaking troops
wearing no identifying insignia have Crimea firmly under their control.
Many believe that they belong at least in part to Russia's military, an
assertion Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia says they are local
"self-defense" forces.
There has been an
international outcry over Crimea's push for separation and warnings that
the referendum won't be recognized in Kiev or elsewhere.
Efforts to exert diplomatic pressure on Moscow continued Wednesday despite little sign that Russia is listening.
Kerry said he would meet
Friday in London with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, to
continue discussions on the situation in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, French
President Francois Hollande told Putin, in a phone call that the
referendum planned in Crimea "has no legal basis."
Hollande urged Putin to
"do everything to prevent the annexation of Crimea to Russia," saying
that such a move would be unacceptable to the international community.
In a different tone, a
statement from the Kremlin said Putin and Hollande had agreed to
continue discussions, and France's foreign and defense ministers would
travel to Moscow next week.
U.S. military presence
CNN has learned the
Obama administration is expected to announce Thursday a Pentagon plan to
keep the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush in the Mediterranean
Sea longer than planned to help reassure NATO allies in the wake of the
Russian invasion of Crimea.
One official said U.S.
military assets in the region are being reviewed for "what stays, what
goes, what gets moved around." Although the U.S. effort with Russia
focuses on diplomatic initiatives, the military part of the equation was
discussed in depth at a White House meeting Tuesday, the military
official confirmed.
Asked about the decision
to keep the aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, a senior
administration official said not to expect much more muscle-flexing, or
additional military steps, between now and Sunday's referendum in
Crimea.
G7 tells Russia to back off
The G7 -- the world's
leading industrial powers without Russia -- and leaders of the European
Council and Commission issued a strongly worded statement calling on
Russia to "cease all efforts to change the status of Crimea contrary to
Ukrainian law and in violation of international law."
The statement urged Russia to immediately halt actions supporting the referendum.
"Any such referendum
would have no legal effect. Given the lack of adequate preparation and
the intimidating presence of Russian troops, it would also be a deeply
flawed process which would have no moral force. For all these reasons,
we would not recognize the outcome," it said.
It warned that the
annexation of Crimea could have "grave implications" for the legal order
protecting the sovereignty of all states. "Should the Russian
Federation take such a step, we will take further action, individually
and collectively," it said.
The G7 nations -- the
United States, Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan
-- had already suspended preparations for a planned G8 summit in the
Russian city of Sochi in June in response to Russia's actions in
Ukraine.
World stage
The peninsula in the
Black Sea, with a population of just over 2 million people, has stepped
into the spotlight of the world stage.
The West has been
preparing sanctions and at the same time telling Moscow that there is a
way out of an economic and diplomatic showdown: Talk to Ukraine's new
government and don't intervene militarily.
Moscow has denounced the
events that led to Yanukovych's ouster as an illegitimate coup and has
refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities.
Yanukovych, currently in
Russia, insists he is still the legitimate leader of Ukraine and has
vowed to return to Kiev "as soon as the circumstances allow."
He fled Kiev on February
22 after three months of protests against his decision to scrap a trade
deal with the European Union and embrace closer ties with Russia.
Putin has said his government has the right to protect ethnic Russians living there.
Unarmed military and
civilian observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe are now on the ground in the city of Donetsk, in eastern
Ukraine, the regional security bloc said via Twitter. The team was
repeatedly turned back from entering Crimea by armed men.
A report by the OSCE
observer team said that although it was prevented from entering Crimea,
its "observations produced significant evidence of equipment consistent
with the presence of Russian Federation military personnel (in the
vicinity of) the various roadblocks encountered."
The evidence included
Russian pattern uniforms and equipment without identifying patches, as
well as trucks bearing license plate numbers associated with Russia's
Black Sea Fleet, the observers said.
"This report adds to our
deep concerns and clearly suggests direct involvement by the Russian
Federation and its agents in preventing impartial, unarmed observers
from doing the work they are supposed to do," U.S. Ambassador to the
OSCE Daniel Baer said. "Russian encouragement of and support for illegal
checkpoints is unhelpful."
Meanwhile, the United
Nations said assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan
Simonovic, had canceled a visit to Crimea -- primarily because of the
logistical challenges at Simferopol airport and because he had been
informed by authorities that he could not be received.
Aid package clears early hurdle
Eight U.S. senators, led by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, are scheduled to travel to Ukraine in coming days.
Meanwhile, the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee approved a package of loans and aid for
Ukraine on Wednesday, along with sanctions against Russia for its
military intervention. The measure, which now heads to the full Senate,
also includes the approval of long-delayed reforms at the International
Monetary Fund.
The aid package includes
$1 billion in loan guarantees from the United States as well as $50
million to boost democracy-building in Ukraine and $100 million for
enhanced security cooperation for Ukraine and some of its neighbors.
The full Senate will vote on the package after the chamber returns from a recess.
"It always takes time to
make good things," Yatsenyuk said Wednesday night, adding that his
country praised the United States for its support.
Russia: 'Absolutely legitimate'
Russian officials have
compared Crimea's potential departure from Ukraine to Kosovo's secession
from Serbia after many years of bloody civil war with its former
neighbor.
Western governments recognized the separation over bitter opposition from Serbia and its historical allies in Moscow.
In a written statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry cited it as a precedent for the "absolutely legitimate" Crimean vote.
"The Russian Federation will respect the results of the free vote of Crimea's people during the referendum," it said.
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