Ukraine Won’t Intervene in Crimea, Interim President Says!
- Ukraine won’t intervene in Crimea, interim president says!
by http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news
KIEV: Ukraine’s acting president has said the country will not use its army to stop Crimea from seceding, the latest sign that a Russian annexation of the strategic peninsula may be imminent.
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Oleksandr Turchynov’s Tuesday comments came after the Crimean parliament voted for independence ahead of a referendum on joining Russia, while Washington and Moscow locked horns in one of their fiercest clashes since the Cold War.
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The interim leader said intervening on the southeastern Black Sea peninsula, where Kremlin-backed forces have seized de facto control, would leave Ukraine exposed on its eastern border, where he said Russia has massed “significant tank units”.
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“We cannot launch a military operation in Crimea, as we would expose the eastern border and Ukraine would not be protected,” Turchynov told AFP.
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“They’re provoking us to have a pretext to intervene on the Ukrainian mainland… (but) we cannot follow the scenario written by the Kremlin.”
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Sunday’s referendum is being organised by Crimea’s self-appointed leaders, who are not recognised by the new pro-European government in Kiev, installed after three months of protests that resulted in 100 deaths and the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
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