Kerry: Putin to decide on Crimea after referendum; U.S. warns of 'annexation'
updated 1:45 PM EDT, Fri March 14, 2014
Prepping for Crimea's independence vote
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Putin not ready "to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after" Sunday, Kerry says
- NEW: "Back-door annexation" of Crimea would bring major consequences, he adds
- NEW: Poll says more than half of Americans see Russia as a serious threat to the U.S.
- The U.S. warns there will be "costs" for Russia if a Crimea referendum goes ahead Sunday
Russia can respect the
result of the Crimean secession referendum without proceeding with a
"back-door annexation" of the Ukrainian region, Kerry said.
Any such annexation by
the Russian parliament of Crimea after Sunday's referendum in the
Ukrainian region would bring significant consequences for Russia, he
added.
Kerry made his comments
at a separate news conference shortly after Lavrov told reporters that
Russia will respect the result of Sunday's referendum in Crimea. Lavrov
declared that Russia and the West don't share "a common vision" on how
to resolve the crisis in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Photos: Crisis in Ukraine
Protesters face off in city of Donetsk
Protesters face off in city of Donetsk
Ambassador: Russia doesn't want war
Kerry said that Russia
faces consequences if it remains unwilling to work out a diplomatic
solution to the Ukraine crisis, declaring that the United States
strongly supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the
interim Ukrainian government.
A key topic of the talks
involved the "increased tension" caused by the deployment of Russian
forces in Crimea and near the border with eastern Ukraine. Kerry said
the United States wants those troops pulled back to "reduce that kind of
tension."
The comments by Kerry and
Lavrov come at a time when a new national poll by CNN/ORC International
indicates that more than half of Americans see Russia as a serious
threat to the U.S. -- for the first time in more than a decade.
Lavrov: No common ground
Russia and the West don't share common ground on what ought to be done in Crimea, Lavrov said.
"Also as to the
practical measures which could be taken by foreign partners, we don't
have a common vision of the situation," he said.
"There are still
differences, but the conversation was definitely useful in order to
better understand how we understand each other in the situation and the
general context of the wide spectrum of the issues of the
Russian-American relations. From this point of view, the negotiations
were useful," Lavrov said.
Asked if Kerry
threatened sanctions against Russia at their meeting, Lavrov told
reporters that Kerry "did not put forward any threats against Russia."
Still, Lavrov said,
Russia is aware that Washington and European governments are considering
sanctions against Russia because of the Ukraine crisis.
"I assure you that our
partners understand that sanctions are counterproductive ... and (they)
will not facilitate mutual interests," he said.
Describing his meeting
with Kerry, Lavrov said he expressed concern that necessary measures
have not been taken to secure stability in Ukraine, and that measures
have not been taken to stop what he called unlawful activities of
radicals, including armed violence, in that country.
Lavrov also condemned
recent violence in Donetsk, Ukraine. He said that Russia has no plans to
get involved there but added that the rights of ethnic Russians have to
be respected.
The outcome of their
last-ditch talks was eagerly anticipated as a contentious referendum on
the future of Ukraine's Crimean region looms.
The two men met four
times last week in Europe and have been in daily phone contact since.
But they have failed to reach common ground on how to solve the crisis
over Crimea.
Ukrainian PM: We urge Russia to pull back
Voices on the Ukraine/Crimea referendum
See dramatic Ukraine confrontation
They met again at the
residence of the U.S. ambassador to London as the clock ticked down on
efforts to find a diplomatic solution.
Crimea's pro-Russian
government has scheduled a referendum Sunday in which residents of the
Crimean Peninsula will vote whether to secede from Ukraine and join
Russia or to choose effective independence.
U.S., European support
Ukraine's interim government in Kiev, as well as U.S. and European leaders, are warning that the vote is illegitimate.
President Barack Obama
said Europe and the United States "stand united" on Ukrainian
sovereignty and subsequent consequences if that sovereignty is violated.
"We continue to hope
there's a diplomatic solution to be found" in Ukraine, Obama told
reporters Friday during a meeting with Ireland's prime minister. He made
those comments before the Kerry-Lavrov meeting concluded.
Before the talks with
Lavrov, Kerry met with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign
Secretary William Hague at 10 Downing St.
"We want to see
Ukrainians and the Russians talking to each other. And if they don't,
then there are going to have to be consequences," Cameron said.
Both Europe and the United States have warned Russia of potential sanctions if it continues its actions in Ukraine.
"Hopefully, we all hope
that we don't get pushed into a place where we have to do all those
things. But we'll see what happens," Kerry said.
Buildup in Crimea
Because of the illegal
presence of Russian military forces in Ukraine, infrastructure and
military equipment have been damaged, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
said Friday. And equipment, firearms, munitions and other property of
the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and military forces in Crimea have been
illegally confiscated.
The ministry reported
that 49 out of 56 facilities of the Ukrainian State Border Service have
been either blockaded or put out of operation, including all five
administrative facilities, 10 of 12 border control units and three
checkpoints.
Eight military units of
the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Crimea have been taken over, and 22 are
being blockaded, the ministry said. Firearms and ammunition have been
illegally confiscated from three military units of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, it said.
'Costs' for Russia
A senior State
Department official said ahead of Kerry's arrival that "there will be
costs" for Russia if the Crimea referendum goes ahead.
"Our analysis is that
Russia has encouraged, aided and abetted this referendum process from
day one and financed it," the official said.
The United States has
urged Russia to de-escalate the situation by talking to the government
in Kiev, pulling back Russian forces in Crimea to their barracks and
allowing in international observers to ensure the rights of all ethnic
groups are maintained.
Russia has said that it
has the right to intervene in Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians from
"fascists" and nationalists. It denies that its forces are militarily
involved in Crimea, despite evidence to the contrary.
Ukraine's interim Prime
Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk blasted what he called Russia's illegal
"military aggression" against his nation as he addressed the U.N.
Security Council in New York on Thursday
But he also insisted
that a peaceful resolution that ends with Kiev and Moscow becoming "real
partners" is still possible and that he is "convinced that Russians do
not want war."
Russian military drills
Yatsenyuk's remarks come as about 8,500 Russian troops staged snap military exercises not far from his nation's eastern border.
The United States is
"very concerned" about the drill and will be asking Lavrov what is meant
by it, the senior State Department official said Thursday.
"This is the second time
inside of a month that Russia has chosen to mass large amounts of force
on short notice without much transparency around the eastern borders of
Ukraine," the official said.
Vladislav Seleznev, a
spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in Crimea, told CNN that
14 Uragan multiple rocket launch systems were seen being moved into
Crimea's interior Friday, along with a convoy of Russian military
vehicles.
An earlier report that
Russian S-300 missiles had been seen was mistaken, he said. The Defense
Ministry has no more information on where the convoy may be now, he
said.
A CNN team in Crimea
passed six long-range artillery guns in a convoy on the road from
Dzhankoy to Chongar. The first vehicle had Russian license plates and
the rest no plates.
Meanwhile, six Russian
jet fighters were moved to Bobruisk airfield in Belarus on Thursday,
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited the Belarussian Defense
Ministry as saying Friday.
The move is part of
Belarus' offer to Russia to participate in joint military drills, the
news agency reported. Belarus, a former Soviet republic, borders Russia
and northern Ukraine.
Tensions spill into violence
Ukraine has been
simmering since November, when protesters angry at the government -- in
part for its president's move toward Russia and away from the European
Union -- began hitting the streets. In February, after deadly clashes
between security forces and demonstrators, President Viktor Yanukovych
was ousted.
Rising tensions have
centered on Crimea, an ethnic Russian-majority peninsula in the
country's southeast where local officials have declared their allegiance
to Russia and armed men have blockaded Ukrainian military sites.
Tensions also have
spilled over into other parts of eastern Ukraine, such as Donetsk, where
the regional health authority said a 22-year-old man was stabbed to
death and at least 10 others were injured in clashes Thursday between
pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protesters.
Russia's Foreign
Ministry condemned the Donetsk violence, saying "right-wing radical
groups" had attacked a peaceful demonstration against the interim
government in Kiev.
"The authorities in Kiev
are not controlling the situation in the country," a statement on its
website said. "Russia is aware of its responsibility for the lives of
its compatriots and citizens in Ukraine and retains the right to defend
people."
But Ukraine's Foreign
Ministry pointed the finger elsewhere. The violence was "a planned
provocation that has direct correlation to the destructive actions of
certain Russian Federation citizens and social organizations, coming to
Ukraine in order to escalate the tensions," spokesman Evhan Perebiynis
said at a Foreign Ministry briefing.
A court in Donetsk was considering a request Friday by the Donetsk City Council to ban protests over the weekend.
Russia slams Western 'interference'
Although the bloodshed has been limited, fears are growing that the crisis could turn into a full-scale military conflict.
Speaking after Yatsenyuk
at the United Nations, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused
the West of having "fanned the flames of unrest" in Ukraine.
Since Yanukovych's
"illegal" ouster, Ukraine's pro-Western government has exacerbated the
crisis by clamping down on opposition and effectively "splitting this
country (into) two parts," Churkin said.
As to Sunday's
referendum, the ambassador said citizens there deserve the same right to
self-determination as anyone. "Why should the Crimeans be the
exception?" he asked.
As the war of words
continued, Russian state media reported Friday that coordinated
cyberattacks by hackers had disrupted government websites including
those of the Kremlin and Russia's central bank. The websites appeared to
be working normally again by Friday afternoon, RIA Novosti said.
Western officials warn Moscow
Western officials,
meanwhile, warned Thursday that Russia will face significant
consequences unless it changes course in Crimea, with Obama pledging to
"stand with Ukraine."
In a speech to the
German parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Sunday's
secession referendum was unconstitutional and that Russia's presence in
the Black Sea peninsula violates Ukraine's territorial integrity. She
warned Putin that his actions would lead to "catastrophe" for Ukraine.
"It would also change Russia economically and politically," she said.
In a phone call, French
President Francois Hollande told Putin the referendum "has no legal
basis," urging the Russian leader to "do everything to prevent the
annexation of Crimea to Russia."
At a Senate committee hearing in Washington, Kerry predicted that the upcoming vote would favor Crimea rejoining Russia.
But he warned that,
absent movement by Russia toward negotiating with Ukraine on the crisis,
"there will be a very serious series of steps Monday in Europe and
here."
The U.S. Senate is
weighing legislation that could impose economic penalties on Russians
involved in the intervention in Crimea. The measure would represent some
of the toughest sanctions on Moscow since the end of the Cold War.
Last week, Obama issued
an executive order slapping visa bans on Russian and Ukrainian officials
involved in the intervention and laying the groundwork for financial
sanctions against those responsible for the crisis.
The European Union has
been divided over how quick and severe the sanctions should be, but
European officials say they are considering travel bans, asset freezes
and possibly sanctions against Russian companies and banks if Russian
aggression continues.
A way out for Putin?
American historian
Timothy Snyder, author of "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and
Stalin," said Putin has put himself in a difficult position, but there
may still be an exit route.
"All of the official
claims that have been made by Russia have been met. Their bases are
secure, Russian speakers are not under any threat, so there is in theory
a way out for the Russians, since none of their reasons for
intervention are actually true," he said.
But the blitz by the
Russian "propaganda machine" may make it harder for Putin to scale back
Russia's activities, he said, with many Russians believing the claims
made of a fascist threat to Russian speakers in Ukraine.
"Putin has now put
himself in a very exposed position, has staked his leadership and his
popularity on some kind of victory here, so it seems that he has
unleashed a process that is now beyond his control," he said.
Alexander Nekrassov, a
former Kremlin adviser, offered a very different take on events. He told
CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Putin had no choice but to intervene
after what Nekrassov said was "basically an armed coup" in Kiev.
"The situation got out
of control," he said. "There was no way Russia could afford to have a
sort of a semi-simmering civil war in Ukraine. The situation in Crimea
-- there would have been a bloodbath there; there would've been -- there
was no choice for Putin, and he had to act."
Nekrassov said there was
no question that the referendum would go ahead Sunday, despite the
efforts of U.S. and EU leaders to halt it.
CNN's Matthew Chance and Kellie Morgan in
Donetsk, Nick Paton Walsh in Simferopol and Tim Schwarz in Kiev
contributed to this report. CNN's Yon Pomrenze, George Kazarian, Greg
Botelho and Marie-Louise Gumuchian also contributed.
end quote from:
Lavrov: With no 'common vision' with US, Russia will honor Crimea vote
Russia likely will "Take" Crimea. I think most news commentators on major networks agree with this assessment. However, that does not mean that Ukrainians are going to accept this. And what comes next?
Russia likely will "Take" Crimea. I think most news commentators on major networks agree with this assessment. However, that does not mean that Ukrainians are going to accept this. And what comes next?
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