Ukraine has called for Britain and the United States to intervene in its rapidly-escalating conflict, as the interior minister accuses Russian forces of staging an “armed invasion” in Crimea
By Harriet Alexander
The Telegraph (UK)
The Telegraph (UK)
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, left, American President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major, extreme right, sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during the CSCE summit in Budapest, Hungary Photo: AP
Deeply worried politicians inside Ukraine’s parliament have pleaded with Britain and the United States to come to their rescue, after Russia was accused of launching a series of raids in the Crimea region.
The two Western powers signed an agreement with Ukraine in 1994, which Kiev’s parliament wants enforcing now. The Budapest Memorandum, signed by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine – promises to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons.
Article one reads: “The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine … to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.”
And Kiev is now claiming that their country’s borders are not being respected.
Oleksandr Turchynov, the interim president, also told agitated MPs on Friday morning that he was convening the country’s security and defence chiefs for an emergency meeting over the unfolding crisis.
Arsen Avakov, who was named interior minister on Thursday, said that the international airport in Sebastopol had been blocked by Russian forces. Sebastopol has for the past 230 years been home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet – a key strategic hub for Moscow, as ships and submarines based there are just north of Turkey and can reach the Mediterranean to influence the Middle East and the Balkans.
Mr Avakov said Russia’s actions amounted to “a military invasion and occupation”.
He wrote on Facebook: “It is a direct provocation of armed bloodshed in the territory of a sovereign State.”
A day earlier, pro-Russian gunmen had seized control of Crimea’s regional parliament and government building, and Crimea’s regional assembly voted to hold a referendum on May 25 to expand the region’s autonomy from Kiev and replaced the local government with a pro-Moscow official.
Crimea has for centuries been a prize much sought-after by competing empires. The Greeks, Ottomans, Venetians and Mongols have all controlled the territory throughout its history.
It was seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great, and was once the crown jewel in Russian and then Soviet empires.
It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia – a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.
This week the age-old tug of war between East and West resurfaced again, with rival demonstrators chanting “Crimea is Russia” and “Crimea is not Russia” back and forth at each other.
Moscow has not commented on the accusations that it is fomenting the rising tensions in Crimea.
No comments:
Post a Comment