(CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned
his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, on Friday to discuss the tenuous situation
in Ukraine -- the latest exchange between two leaders who have been at
loggerheads about what's happened and what should happen next.
According to the White House, Putin called to talk about an
American proposal "for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis" and the
two presidents agreed that their respective top diplomats "would meet to
discuss next steps."
The back-and-forth also gave Obama the opportunity to
express, as he's done repeatedly in recent week, his opposition to what he
described as Russia's taking over of Crimea, which just a few weeks ago was
part of Ukraine. He also raised concerns about a reported massing of Russian
troops near the border, which has raised fear of further incursions.
"President Obama made clear that this remains possible
only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further
violate Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," the White House
said.
 |
|
Members of the Right Sector group block the Ukrainian parliament
building in Kiev on Thursday, March 27. Activists called for Interior Minister
Arsen Avakov to step down following the recent killing of radical nationalist
leader Oleksandr Muzychko, who died during a police operation to detain him.
Muzychko and the Right Sector are credited with playing a lead role in the
protests that toppled Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovitch.
|
 |
|
Ukrainian tanks are transported from their base in
Perevalne, Crimea, on Wednesday, March 26. After Russian troops seized most of
Ukraine's bases in Crimea, interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov
ordered the withdrawal of armed forces from the Black Sea peninsula, citing
Russian threats to the lives of military staff and their families.
|
"You've seen a range of troops massing along that
border under the guise of military exercises, but these are not what Russia
would normally be doing," the President said in the CBS News interview.
"It may simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine, or it may be that
they've got additional plans.
"And, in either case, what we need right now to resolve
and de-escalate the situation would be for Russia to move back those troops and
to begin negotiations directly with the Ukrainian government as well as the
international community."
Russia may have 40,000 troops near its border with Ukraine,
two U.S. officials told CNN on Thursday. The officials said that this estimate
was largely based on satellite imagery and that a firm number is difficult to
assess.
However, a spokesman for Ukraine's Council of National
Security and Defense, Yarema Dukh, told CNN his government estimates 88,000
Russian troops are at the Ukrainian border.
U.S. officials said they believe the higher estimates may
reflect Russian troops on alert farther to the east.
Russia has said its troops are carrying out snap military
exercises in the region.
Also Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported on
his talks with Putin and Ukraine leaders, saying he asked Putin if any military
action was about to happen.
"This is what the President Putin told me: That he had
no intention to make any military move," Ki-moon said. "I should also
tell you that, at the same time, President Putin also expressed his concern
about some extreme radical elements and as such along the borderline."
Ki-moon said diplomacy is the only way.
"At this time of heightened attention, even small spars
can ignite larger flames of unintended consequences," he said.
Obama said he believes Putin still harbors a grievance over
the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union.
"You would have thought that,
after a couple of decades, there'd be an awareness on the part of any Russian
leader that the path forward is not to revert back to the kinds of practices
that were so prevalent during the Cold War."
Instead, he said, Putin should be moving toward further
integration with the world economy.
Obama said that Putin has described the breakup of the
Soviet Union as tragic, and that he may feel that the West has taken advantage
of Russia.
"He may be entirely misreading the West," Obama
said. "He's certainly misreading American foreign policy. We have no
interest in encircling Russia, and we have no interest in Ukraine -- beyond
letting the Ukrainian people make their own decisions about their own
lives."
He rejected the notion that Russia's concerns over
maintaining its influence along its borders might justify its invasion of other
countries.
"Certainly, they're going to have influence -- because
of trade and tradition and language and heritage -- with Ukraine," he
said. "But there's a difference between that and sending in troops and,
because you're bigger and stronger, taking a piece of the country. That is not
how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st
century."
Russia rejects U.N. resolution
Obama's comments were broadcast as Russia dismissed a U.N.
General Assembly resolution that branded Crimea's secession referendum invalid,
calling it "counterproductive."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.N. vote -- which
followed Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last week on the basis
of the hastily called referendum -- would do nothing to help resolve the
situation.
"The counterproductive initiative with the General
Assembly's resolution only complicates efforts to stabilize the internal
political crisis in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
The U.N. vote, held Thursday, saw 100 countries back the
nonbinding resolution, with 11 opposed and 58 abstaining.
Russia's actions in Ukraine have been widely condemned by
the West and prompted concern in Kiev and other former Soviet states that
further incursions may follow.
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters
in Moscow, "I hope that the situation will be accepted with a sense of
reality by our European neighbors."
Also in Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said
that Ukrainian troops in Crimea who had chosen to remain in the Ukrainian Armed
Forces had withdrawn. "The change in state symbols on all ships and in all
divisions that have sided with the Russian army has been completed," he
said.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea,
Vladislav Seleznev, said military personnel and their families from a number of
military bases were expected to depart Saturday for inland Ukraine.
Putin said that events had demonstrated that Russian forces
were prepared. "The recent events in Crimea were a serious test," the
Russian President said at a ceremony marking military promotions, according to
the Russian news agency Interfax. "They demonstrated both the completely
new capabilities of our Armed Forces and the high morale of the
personnel."
On Friday, Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych
stepped into the fray with a call for Ukrainians to demand a referendum on the
future status of each region in the country, according to Russian state news
agency ITAR-Tass.
"As the President whose thoughts and heart are together
with you, I call on each reasonable citizen of Ukraine -- don't let the
imposters use you! Demand a referendum on the determination of the status of
each region within Ukraine," Yanukovych said in an address to the
Ukrainian people.
He said that a referendum for all the regions was the only
way to stabilize the country, and that early presidential elections planned for
May will be neither fair nor constitutional.
Yanukovych also said he wished to be removed from his post
as chairman of the Party of the Regions.
Yanukovych resurfaced in Russia days after leaving Ukraine
amid bloody street protests in February against his decision to turn away from
a European Union trade deal in favor of closer ties with Moscow.
He and Russia say he is still the legitimate leader of
Ukraine, but the West disagrees. The interim government in Kiev was voted in by
a large majority in parliament, including members of Yanukovych's own party.
Russia seized control of Crimea amid the political upheaval
that followed Yanukovych's ouster -- a step cemented by the controversial
referendum and a new treaty that absorbed the Black Sea peninsula into the
Russian Federation.
Now, observers in the West fear Moscow may make incursions
into eastern Ukraine, where there are strong ties to Russia, despite the threat
of deeper EU and U.S. sanctions.
International bailout
In another development Thursday, former Ukrainian Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was released from prison last month, said she
intends to run for president in elections on May 25.
After more than two years in prison, she was released in
February after the ouster of her archrival, Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko said she intended to ask delegates at her
Batkivshchyna Party congress on Saturday to nominate her as a presidential
candidate.
Ukraine's elections are taking place against a backdrop of
poor economic conditions, Moscow's annexation of Crimea and rumblings of discontent
in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern regions.
Tymoshenko's announcement came as the
International Monetary Fund announced a $14 billion to $18 billion bailout for
Ukraine to avoid bankruptcy. The bailout is tied to painful reforms as
the country faces an escalating standoff with Russia.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said he was
expecting the first transfer to be in the amount of $3 billion, though he did
not say when.
Obama on Thursday praised the loan agreement between the IMF
and Ukraine, and said the United States will do its part to help.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved $1 billion in loan
guarantees for Ukraine, along with sanctions against Russia for its
intervention in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved
Ukraine loan guarantees and is now voting on sanctions.
A large majority of Crimeans voted in favor of leaving
Ukraine for Russia in the referendum held 12 days ago. It was dismissed by the
interim government in Kiev and the West as illegitimate.
The Black Sea peninsula, which has a majority ethnic Russian
population, was part of Russia until 1954 and has long historical and cultural
ties to the country.
