Russian senators vote to use stabilizing military forces on Ukrainian territory.
The upper house of the Russian parliament has voted in favor
of sending troops to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which would ensure
peace and order in the region “until the socio-political situation in the
country is stabilized.”
The debate in the Federation Council has revealed that
Russian MPs are united on the issue, with many of them sharing concerns on the
recent events in Ukraine .
The common notion was that since the power was seized in Kiev ,
the situation has only been deteriorating with radical nationalists rapidly
coming to power and threatening the lives of those opposing their actions, most
notably the Russian citizens living in Ukraine .
The developments follow an appeal by the Prime Minister of
the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, who requested that Russia
to help cope with the crisis and ensure “peace and calm” in the region.
Crimeans began protesting after the new self-proclaimed
government in Kiev introduced a law
abolishing the use of other languages in official circumstances in Ukraine .
More than half the Crimean population are Russian and use only this language in
their everyday life. The residents have announced they are going to hold a
referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous
region.
Putin on Saturday requested the Federation Council to use
the Army for normalizing the socio-political situation in Ukraine
in connection with the “extraordinary situation” there. The events in Ukraine
indicate there is a “threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian
Federation … and the personnel of the armed
forces of the Russian Federation
on Ukrainian territory,” the Russian president said.
According to Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, the president
has not yet made a decision on sending the troops to Ukraine .
Moreover, taking the decision to use the Armed Forces in
Ukraine does not mean that it will be carried out immediately, Grigory Karasin,
Putin’s official representative in the Federation Council, has said.
“The approval, which the president will receive, does not
literally mean that this right will be used promptly,” Karasin said.
Russian citizens are among the victims of the turmoil
gripping Ukraine ,
the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, has said. In Crimea ,
there were Russian casualties during the storming of the local Interior
Ministry building by gunmen overnight, she added.
“During the attempts to seize the building of the Interior
Ministry in Crimea some were injured, there were victims
also, the people are being threatened, and in this situation they are naturally
voicing concerns for the security of their lives and families. This compelled
the government of Crimea to ask Russia
for help,” Matvienko said.
The speaker’s words coincided with the statement issued by
Russian Federal Migration Service noting that some 143,000 Ukrainians have
sought asylum in Russia .
The number represents a sharp rise in such requests, the authority said.
The new Ukrainian authorities have been formed “under the
dictate of Maidan” and “continue to use force in the forming of the
decision-making structures,” Karasin said.
“We are particularly concerned with the situation in the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea, where, in accordance with the international
treaty, the Black Sea Fleet is stationed; where 1.5 million Russian people
live,” Putin’s representative stressed.
The Crimean population “resents” the attempts to seize local
administration buildings and the threats thrown at regional authorities, and
demands stability, he said.
At the same time, Karasin said he believes the international
community and those states that backed the February 21 agreement between the
opposition and the legitimate Ukrainian government “have the power” to
influence the self-proclaimed Kiev
authorities to bring the situation back to “constitutional ways.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that Moscow
is expecting that the international community will influence the
self-proclaimed Kiev regime to
normalize the situation in the country.
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