Earlier this week, the fugitive Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych popped his head up in Russia to give a press conference, saying the broad-based coalition that rose up and booted him from power—and then partied in his palatial mansion before heading back to Independence Square for more funerals for demonstrators who’d been killed in the streets—was illegitimate and asked Papa Putin to go punish them.
In fact, Yanukovych practically challenged Putin’s manhood for not having invaded yet:
“Russia should act, and is obliged to act,” Yanukovych told journalists in a hastily convened press conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday.
“Knowing the character of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin I am surprised at the fact that he is still so reticent, so silent,” he said.
Yesterday, armed men in uniforms with no insignia—but accompanied by members of ardently pro-Russian organizations—took over airports and Russian troops appeared on nearby roads.
Today, Russia has approved the use of its military in Crimea—which is how most media sources are framing this morning’s news—but that’s an after-the-fact technicality.
Ukrainian sources estimate between 6,000 and 28,000 Russian troops have already slipped into Ukraine, especially Crimea:
Ukraine’s new prime minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, today called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw the troops, estimated to number at least 6,000 soldiers, according to defense minister Ihor Teniukh. He called the movement of Russian troops in Ukraine “a provocation” and violation of the conditions for Ukraine’s hosting of the Russian naval base in Crimea’s Sevastopol…
Meanwhile, Russian warships are at the entrance of the Balaklava Bay and as many as 10 Russian military helicopters have been reported violating Ukrainian airspace in the area. The Coast Guard detachment of the Ukrainian State Border Service in Blaklava has been surrounded by Russian marines.
Chris Collison (who works as a television editor in Kiev) writes that Russia’s declaration looks like a clear violation of the Budapest Memorandum, which was not a formal treaty, but a diplomatic understanding signed in 1994 promising that Russia, the US, and the UK would respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for nuclear disarmament.
He continues:
People here in Kyiv are shocked. Many see it as an act of war. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of good options for the new leaders in Ukraine. Sending in Ukrainian troops in would further build the Kremlin’s case that it needs to act. The people I’ve talked to suspect that Moscow is waiting for Ukrainian forces to shoot first, so Russian troops can use force.
The Russian media has been playing up the alleged atrocities that Russians living in Ukraine are going to suffer under the new leadership. This follows Russia’s pattern of discrediting westward-looking leaders, encouraging panic, and then claiming that Moscow needs to save the Russians from the boogeymen who have taken over. It happened in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia and it looks like the Kremlin is trying to play the same game again. There is no evidence to suggest that Russians or Russian speakers in Ukraine are in any sort of danger. There hasn’t been a rise in violence against Russian speakers here in Kyiv or anywhere in Ukraine since protests began.
These claims by the Kremlin are all attempts to play on people’s fears and stir up chaos. Clashes are only happening in places where they are being provoked.
As I mentioned in one of my earlier emails, with the revolution in Ukraine, Putin has lost the most important piece of his Eurasian Union plans. To the current Kremlin, a Western-oriented Ukraine is a disaster. This administration in Moscow is extremely vindictive, and I suspect it will do anything it can to make the new leaders here in Kyiv suffer. The people of Crimea and eastern Ukraine are just pawns in this geopolitical game.
Not only is there no evidence of anti-Russian violence, pro-Russia demonstrators are clashing with police and beating passersby and a petition is being circulated telling Putin that “we ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainian nationals do not need other countries to defend our interests… nobody has ever infringed our rights on Ukrainian territory.”
Just a few days ago, Ukraine managed to rid itself of a vicious, kleptocrat, Kremlin-puppet of a president.
Now Putin is holding the country at gunpoint—it’s only a matter of time before he finds his Gulf-of-Tonkin excuse to start shooting.
Follow the Kyiv Post for updates.
