‘GRAVE IMPLICATIONS’
While tightening his grip on Crimea, Putin seems to have backed off from his March 1 threat to invade other parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, where most of the population, although ethnically Ukrainian, speak Russian as a first language.
That threat exposed the limits of Ukraine’s military, which would be little match for the superpower next door and has seen its detachments in Crimea surrounded. The authorities in Kiev announced the formation of a new national guard on Wednesday.
But if Putin had expected to be able to seize Crimea without facing any consequences – as he did when he captured parts of tiny Georgia after a war in 2008 – the push toward sanctions suggests he may have miscalculated.
In a statement, the leaders of the G7 – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada – called on Russia to stop the referendum from taking place.
“In addition to its impact on the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea could have grave implications for the legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all states,” they said. “Should the Russian Federation take such a step, we will take further action, individually and collectively.”
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved legislation that would impose strict sanctions on Russians involved in the intervention in Ukraine and provide aid to the new government in Kiev. The bill now goes to the full Senate for a vote and must also be approved by the House of Representatives.
There has been a lot of diplomatic contact between Russia and the West but no breakthrough. Putin spoke on Wednesday to French President Francois Hollande and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, whose country chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in London on Friday.