Ukraine mobilizes volunteer force to keep Russians at bay
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UKRAINE moved yesterday to mobilize a volunteer force to ward off Russia’s expansionist threat as Berlin warned Moscow of long-term damage to its economy and EU relations over the Crimea crisis.
The Verkhovna Rada parliament unanimously backed the creation of a new force of up to 60,000 volunteers who could keep Russian troops from advancing beyond the Crimean Peninsula.
The dramatic decision to bolster Ukraine’s defenses with people outside the army came shortly after US President Barack Obama threw his full weight behind Ukraine’s new pro-European leaders in their Cold War-style standoff with Russia.
National Security and Defense Council chief Andriy Parubiy said the new National Guard would “ensure state security, defend the borders, and eliminate terrorist groups” — a term used in Kiev for the militias who patrol Crimea alongside Russian troops.
The flaring crisis on the eastern edge of Europe was sparked by the removal last month of a pro-Kremlin government that prompted President Vladimir Putin to seek and win the right to use force against a neighbor for the first time since a brief 2008 war with Georgia.
The more nationalist and Western-leaning team that rose to power on the back of a deadly popular revolt is viewed with derision by Putin and increasing warmth by Washington and EU states.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered her most ominous warning to date in the German parliament.
“If Russia continues its course of the last weeks, it would not only be a catastrophe for Ukraine,” she said. “It would not only change the relationship of the European Union as a whole to Russia. No, it would also, and I am firmly convinced of this, massively damage Russia both economically and politically.”
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