Betrayal: Ukraine to pull troops from Crimea as Obama rules out military action

03/20/2014

Ukraine prepared to pull its troops and their families from Crimea on Wednesday as President Obama ruled out use of the U.S. military in the West's dispute with Russia over its seizure of the peninsula.

National Security and Defense Council secretary Andriy Parubiy said that Ukraine will seek U.N. support to turn Crimea into a demilitarized zone as it prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 soldiers and their families to the Ukrainian mainland.

"We are working out a plan of action so that we can transfer not just servicemen, but first of all, members of their family who are in Crimea, quickly and effectively to mainland Ukraine," Parubiy said. 

Ukraine has been powerless to prevent Russian troops from taking control of Crimea, which President Vladimir Putin formally annexed by treaty Tuesday. Crimea's absorption came after a hastily organized referendum in which the population voted in favor of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.

President Obama, who has threatened Moscow with additional sanctions, said Wednesday that nobody wants to "trigger an actual war with Russia" because that would serve no one's interests.

"We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine," Obama told KNSD-TV. "What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we've got a strong international coalition that sends a clear message."  

Russia, which has shown no signs of flinching in the dispute, expects the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia to be completed this week, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Reuters reported Thursday.

"Practical steps are being taken to implement the agreements on the entry of Crimea and (the Crimean port city of) Sevastopol into Russia," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. "The legal process will be completed this week."

Russia's Constitutional Court chairman, Valery Zorkin, said Wednesday the treaty signed by Putin has been ruled valid, meaning it now only requires ratification by the Russian parliament.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Ukraine's navy was freed after being held by Russian forces and local Crimean militia at the navy's headquarters, Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said Thursday. 

Rear Adm. Sergei Haiduk and an unspecified number of civilians were held for hours after the navy's base in Sevastopol was stormed Wednesday. Early reports said the storming was conducted by a self-described local defense force, but the statement by Turchynov on Thursday said Russian forces were involved. 

Attempting to face down the unblinking incursion, Ukraine announced it would hold joint military maneuvers with the United States and Britain, signatories, along with Russia, of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. 

The document was designed to guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity when it surrendered its share of Soviet nuclear arsenals to Russia after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. Ukraine has accused Russia of breaching the agreement by taking over the Crimean Peninsula.

In Washington, the Pentagon said it would participate as planned in a multinational military exercise this summer in Ukraine. Dubbed "Rapid Trident," the ground maneuvers have been held annually for a number of years with forces from Britain and other NATO countries as well as Ukraine, which has a partner relationship with NATO but is not a member.

The Pentagon gave no details on the number of U.S. forces expected to participate or when the exercises would be held. Last year, the two-week maneuvers involving 17 nations were held in July.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was headed to the region to try to seek a diplomatic way out of the crisis. He was to meet with Russian leaders in Moscow on Thursday, followed by talks Friday with Ukraine's new government.

Ban has repeatedly called for a solution guided by the principles of the U.N. Charter including sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine.

A 34-member U.N. human rights monitoring mission was also scheduled to be in place by Friday. Ivan Simonovic, assistant secretary-general for human rights, expressed particular concern over the security of Tatars and other ethnic minorities in Crimea.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin dismissed Simonovic's assessment as "one-sided."

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