Putin accuses West of encouraging ‘coup’
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Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday accused the West of encouraging an “unconstitutional coup” in Ukraine and said Moscow reserves the right to use its military to protect Russians there.
However, he expressed the hope it wouldn’t need to do so.
Putin’s first comments on Ukraine since its fugitive president fled to Russia came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev for meetings with Ukraine’s new government.
Putin said Western actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places on Russia for its actions there will backfire. Both the US and the 28-nation European Union have raised the possibility of sanctions against Russia.
The US yesterday announced a US$1 billion aid package in energy subsidies to Ukraine, which is scrambling to get international loans to fend off looming bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, tensions remained high in Crimea, with troops loyal to Moscow firing warning shots to ward off protesting Ukrainian soldiers.
Russia took over the strategic peninsula on Saturday, placing its troops around the peninsula’s ferry, military bases and border posts. Two Ukrainian warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, blocked from leaving by Russian ships.
Putin said he still considers Viktor Yanukovych to be Ukraine’s president and hopes Russia won’t need to use force in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
“We aren’t going to fight the Ukrainian people,” Putin said, adding that the massive military maneuvers Russia has been doing near Ukraine’s border had been planned and were unrelated to the situation in Ukraine.
Putin also insisted the Russian military deployment in Crimea remained within the limits set by a bilateral agreement on a Russian military base there. He said Russia had no intention of annexing Crimea, but insisted its residents have the right to determine the region’s status in a referendum set for later this month.
Putin accused the West of using Yanukovych’s decision in November to ditch a pact with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia to encourage the months of protests that drove him from power and put Ukraine’s future in turmoil.
Yet he acknowledged that Yanukovych has no political future and said Russia gave him shelter only to save his life.
Pro-Russian troops who had taken control of the Belbek air base in Crimea fired warning shots into the air yesterday as around 300 Ukrainian soldiers, who previously manned the airfield, demanded their jobs back.
US President Barack Obama has said Russia is “on the wrong side of history” in Ukraine and its actions violate international law.
Obama says the US is considering economic and diplomatic options that will isolate Russia.
In return, Russia’s agricultural oversight agency on Tuesday reversed its earlier decision to lift a ban on imports of US pork. It said the US system of checks doesn’t guarantee its safety.
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