Ukraine leaders say Crimea’s referendum illegal
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Shock move comes as European leaders meet to find ways to put pressure on Putin to back down and the US sends a destroyer to the Black Sea
Crimea’s parliament yesterday voted to join Russia, and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum within 10 days on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.
The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow’s rule came as European Union leaders gathered for an emergency summit to find ways to pressure Russia to back down. US President Barack Obama took steps to punish those involved in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, ordering the freezing of their US assets and a ban on travel to the United States.
The US Navy said a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Truxton, was heading to the Black Sea in a long-planned training exercise, not a show of force.
The Crimean parliament voted unanimously “to enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of the Russian Federation.”
The vice premier of Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea military base in Sevastopol, said a referendum on the status would take place on March 16. He said all state property would be “nationalized,” the Russian rouble could be adopted and Ukrainian troops would be treated as occupiers and be forced to surrender or leave.
Russia said it would make it easier to give passports to native Russian speakers who have lived in Russia or the former Soviet Union. President Vladimir Putin has cited the threat to Russian citizens to justify military action in Georgia in 2008 and now in Ukraine.
Far from seeking a diplomatic way out of the crisis, Putin appears to have chosen to create facts on the ground before the West can agree on more than token action against him.
The new Ukrainian government has declared the referendum illegal and opened a criminal investigation against Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Askyonov, who was appointed in a closed session by the region’s parliament last week. The Ukrainian government does not recognize his authority or that of the parliament.
A Crimean parliament official said voters will be asked two questions: should Crimea be part of the Russian Federation and should Crimea return to an earlier constitution (1992) that gave the region more autonomy.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Sergei Tsekov told reporters: “I think there was an annexation of Crimea by Ukraine, if we are going to call things by their name.
“Because of this mood and feeling we took the decision to join Russia. I think we will feel much more comfortable there.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who refused to meet his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday, had talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome. Earlier, Kerry met his counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy and France to discuss Ukraine and inform them of US plans to sanction individuals and officials.
The White House said the order was “a flexible tool that will allow us to sanction those who are most directly involved in destabilizing Ukraine, including the military intervention in Crimea, and does not preclude further steps should the situation deteriorate.”
The crisis began in November when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, under strong Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a US$15 billion bailout from Moscow.
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