Russia holds war games near Ukraine; Merkel warns of catastrophe
Saturday, 15 March 2014 00:00
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REUTERS: Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down on plans to annex its neighbour’s Crimea region despite a stronger than expected drive for sanctions from the EU and United States.
In an unusually robust and emotional speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of “catastrophe” unless Russia changes course, while in Ukraine a man died in fighting between rival protesters in a mainly Russian-speaking city.
In Berlin, Merkel removed any suspicion that she might try to avoid a confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
“We would not only see it, also as neighbours of Russia, as a threat. And it would not only change the European Union’s relationship with Russia,” she told parliament. “No, this would also cause massive damage to Russia, economically and politically.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry said serious steps would be imposed on Monday by the United States and Europe if a referendum on Crimea joining Russia takes place on Sunday as planned. Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker who grew up in Communist East Germany, has emerged in recent days as a leading figure in threatening tough measures against Moscow.
Her Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said European states would draw up a list over the weekend of Russians who will face visa restrictions and asset freezes.
Putin declared Russia’s right to invade its neighbour on 1 March, as Russian troops were already seizing control of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula with a narrow ethnic Russian majority and a Russian naval base.
Events have moved rapidly, perhaps signalling an effort by Moscow to turn the annexation into a fait accompli before the West could coordinate a response.
In the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a young man was stabbed to death and more than a dozen people were in hospital after pro-Russian and pro-European demonstrators clashed. The violence was the worst since last month’s overthrow of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich.
But in an apparently conciliatory move, Russia backed deployment of an OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, including Crimea, the Swiss Chairman of the European rights watchdog said.
Armed men
The leader of pro-Moscow separatist politicians, who took power in Crimea after armed men seized the regional parliament on 27 February, predicted a strong vote in favour of union with Russia in Sunday’s referendum.
“We have a survey by renowned Ukrainian and Crimean polling experts showing clearly and plainly that more than 80% of people in Crimea are ready to join the Russian Federation,” Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told Reuters.
Aksyonov, whose election in a closed session of the regional parliament is not recognised by Kiev, dismissed opponents’ accusations that he will fix the referendum on Moscow’s orders. “We guarantee that all aspects of European law will be followed, including security for voters,” he said in an interview.
Western countries dismiss the vote as illegal. “The referendum on Sunday will have no legitimacy, no legal effect, it can have no moral effect. It is a piece of political theatre that is being perpetrated at the barrel of a gun,” Daniel Baer, the US Ambassador to the OSCE, told reporters in Vienna.
Russia has taken territory from its former Soviet neighbours in the past with no serious consequences - in 2008 it invaded Georgia and seized two breakaway regions. But if Putin was hoping for a similarly tepid response this time, he may have misjudged.
In particular, he seems to have alienated Merkel, the Western leader with whom Putin - a German speaker who was once a KGB spy in East Germany - has had the closest relationship.
Merkel was initially more cautious than other Western leaders on the Crimean crisis, but in recent days she has pushed the European Union to match US sanctions. EU action is critical because Europe does 10 times as much trade with Russia as the United States, buying most of its gas and oil exports.
The prospect that EU measures could be implemented as soon as Monday has weighed down the Russian economy.
