CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
UPDATE ON UKRAINE SPECIAL REPORT 3, Sunday afternoon March 2, 2014
THE LEADERS OF THE NATION’S SAY BLAH BLAH BLAH
(CNN)– A day after Russian lawmakers approved a request from President Vladimir Putin to send military forces across their southern border into Ukraine and ordered forces there to hand over their weapons, leaders in capitals across the West were sharpening their pencils in hopes that the language of diplomacy could dull the tensions and restore the status quo.
Some of the most impassioned speech came from Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. “This is a red alert. This is not a threat. This is actually a declaration of war to my country,” he told Rada TV. “And we urge President Putin to pull back his military and stick to the international obligations and bilateral and multilateral agreements that were signed between Ukraine and Russia.
“If President Putin wants to be the president who started the war between two neighboring and friendly countries, between Ukraine and Russia, so he has reached this target within inches. We are on the brink of the disaster. There is no reason for the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine. And we believe that our Western partners and the entire global community will support the territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine and will do everything we can to stop the military conflict provoked by the Russian Federation in Europe.”
Support he got — as statements from world leaders quickly clogged reporters’ inboxes. But they offered few specifics about how they might twist Putin’s arm if he did not heed their warnings.
“We have to recognize the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine has been violated and this cannot be the way to conduct international affairs,” said William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, before boarding a plane Sunday from London to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Hague said Britain will join other countries in pulling out of preparatory talks for the next G8 summit of industrialized nations, which was to be held in Sochi, Russia, in June, “and then we will keep our approach to further G8 meetings under review.” Future decisions “will depend on what happens over the coming days.” He predicted that Russia will see “the very strong concerns around the world by many, many nations” and called on both sides to avoid conflict.
Hague expressed confidence that the international response could have an impact. “It will be a very united diplomatic response — and not just from the Western world but, I think, from many other countries in the world, and that is something that Russia will have to think hard about,” he said.
In a statement on Saturday, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned the military intervention as “a clear violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and in violation of Russia’s obligations under international law. In addition to suspending its engagement in preparations for the G8 summit, Canada recalled its ambassador from Moscow for consultations. Canada supports the deployment to Ukraine of international monitors from the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Harper said.
“Should President Putin continue on this course of action, it will lead to ongoing negative consequences for our bilateral relationship.”
But again, few specifics.
During his Sunday address to thousands of worshippers in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis chose not to judge, saying only that he hoped for dialogue and understanding in lieu of other options. “I hope that all of the country’s parties will endeavor to overcome misunderstandings and to build together the future of the nation. I make a concerned appeal to the international community to support any initiative in favor of dialogue and understanding.”
A two-hour flight north of Rome, in Belgium, NATO did not hesitate to lay the blame at the feet of the Russians. “We condemn Russia’s military escalation in Crimea,” Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters, reading from a NATO statement. “Military action against Ukraine by forces of the Russian Federation is a breach of international law, it contravenes the principles of the NATO-Russia Council and the Partnership for Peace. “Russia must respect its obligations under the United Nations charter and the spirit and principles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on which peace and stability in Europe rests.” He called on Russia to withdraw its forces to its bases and urged both parties to seek a resolution through dialogue, “through the dispatch of international observers” under the auspices of the U.N. Security Council or the OSCE. He did not elaborate on what the consequences might be if Russia does not comply.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the world was on “a dangerous path,” but that “a new division of Europe can still be prevented.”
In a statement, he called on all those responsible to “desist to take further steps that can only be understood as a provocation. Anything else would lead to an escalation of uncertain, possibly dramatic consequences and could make many years of constructive cooperation for a more secure Europe naught. “Russia has no right to use its military beyond the rules of the lease on the Russian Black Sea Fleet on Ukrainian territory.”
Then, in a nod to Putin’s assertion that his forces were trying to protect Russians in Ukraine, he added, “We are committed to ensuring that the new political leadership in Kiev protects the rights and interests of all Ukrainians. This includes in particular an unequivocal protection of the rights of minorities, including the use of languages.”
A spokeswoman for French President Francois Hollande said Paris too had suspended its participation in preparatory talks for the G8 summit. Hollande spoke with Putin and “asked him to avoid any use of force and to seek a solution to the crisis with the international community.”
Moscow’s take on the conversation differed. “At the request of Francois Hollande, Vladimir Putin shared his assessment of the situation in Ukraine, stressing that there exists a real threat to the lives of Russian citizens and our compatriots,” the Kremlin website said. “The two presidents exchanged views on possible ways of resolving the situation in Ukraine and agreed to continue contacts.”
PEREVALNE, UKRAINE – Just inside the main gate to the military base, four young Ukrainian soldiers stood in the middle of the road, as if somehow they alone could stop what was on the other side.
They were hardly an intimidating group. They were young and unarmed and didn’t look like they had ever been anywhere near combat. One, the soldier whose eyes kept blinking nervously, didn’t look old enough to shave.
Outside the gate, though, things were different. There were a half-dozen soldiers in unmarked green uniforms, all wearing helmets and body armor, and all carrying automatics weapons.
Every 50 feet (15 meters) or so, were was another pair of the soldiers, all from the military force that Russian President Vladimir Putin had used to take control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in recent days. Those soldiers, taciturn and well-disciplined, ringed the base from every side.
The soldiers outside had arrived Sunday morning in transport trucks with Russian license plates, escorted by at least one armored car with a machine gun on top. Their demand was simple: they wanted to take control of the base, as they are believed to be doing at bases across Crimea. These Ukrainians, though, weren’t prepared to let that happen.
“This is the territory of a military unit, and there is military hardware, weaponry and ammunition inside, and the servicemen don’t intend to let them go,” the base’s deputy commander, Col. Valery Boyko, said.
Within a few hours, the standoff had become a circus. The international media had arrived, trailing tripods and generators and mobile satellite dishes. An archbishop from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had come, to pray for peace.
Dozens of people came from the village — really a collection of dirty gray apartment buildings — just around the corner. Young mothers pushed children to the gate in strollers, or held the hands of toddlers. A couple women brought jugs of tea to keep away the evening cold. Lots of young men came, to gawp for a while and then saunter home.
As word spread about what was happening, dozens of loud pro-Russian Crimeans also came, some waving Russian flags, to urge the soldiers inside to give up. “Russia! Russia!” they would loudly chant, if anyone dared to disagree with them.
There were also, however, about a dozen people who had been watching the scene carefully all day. Most of them were relatives of soldiers living in the base (which, for unexplained reasons in this inland village, belongs to a coast guard unit). “I’m very, very afraid,” said one woman, who declined to give her name, but who said her husband was inside.
Maria Victornova, an elderly woman, had come to the base to support the Ukrainians, but said she also felt sorry for the masked soldiers outside the gate. “They are so young,” she said. “And we can’t see their emotions.”
The pro-Russians outnumbered the pro-Ukrainians by at least 10-to-1, no surprise in a region where most people trace their heritage to Russia, and where some people see themselves as more Russian than Ukrainian. These people had welcomed Putin’s move into Crimea. They occasionally called through the fence for the young soldiers to quietly surrender their base.
By late afternoon, though, that had yet to happen. Boyko said he talked to the Russian forces and had agreed to lower his base’s alert status — replacing his armed soldiers at the gate, for instance, with unarmed ones — but there was no sign the soldiers in green would simply fade away.
Despite the nervous relatives, and that one blinking Ukrainian, hardly anyone appeared frightened. Most of the soldiers — inside and out — seemed content to just stand in their assigned places and wait for orders. It’s what soldiers do, no matter their loyalty.
As night fell, and the breeze coming down from the nearby hills turned bitterly cold, all of them were still waiting.
PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE IN CRIMEA
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin has defended Russia’s action against “ultranationalist forces” in Ukraine during a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A Kremlin statement posted online said Putin spoke with Merkel by phone Sunday, and that Putin “directed her attention to the unrelenting threat of violence” to “Russian citizens and the whole Russian-speaking population.” The statement said Putin had stressed that measures taken by Russia so far were “fully adequate.” Since parliament gave him a green light to use military force in Ukraine late Saturday, Putin has defied calls from the West to pull back his troops, insisting Moscow has a right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers in the strategic Crimea region and elsewhere in Ukraine.
MARCH FOR STRIFE
MOSCOW – Thousands marched in a pro-invasion rally in downtown Moscow one day after Russia’s parliament gave President Vladimir Putin a green light to use military force in Ukraine. At least 10,000 people bearing Russian flags marched freely through Moscow on Sunday, while dozens of people demonstrating on Red Square against an invasion of Ukraine were quickly detained by Russian riot police.
The Associated Press witnessed over 50 detentions and spotted at least five police vans, which carry between 15 and 20 protesters, driving away from the square.
Many Russians believe the country should maintain strong ties with Ukraine’s predominantly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions. But Russia’s state-controlled TV stations have ratcheted up that rhetoric after months of pro-democracy protests in Ukraine forced its Russia-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych to flee Ukraine.
The Obama administration called Russia’s advances in Ukraine “a brazen act of aggression” Sunday and threatened sanctions but skirted questions about whether the United States might use force to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The State Department announced Sunday that Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Kiev on Tuesday to show support for the new leadership there in the face of Russian military intervention. Kerry on Sunday called the rapid movement of Russian troops across the border into the Crimean region of Ukraine unwarranted and outside international law and said Russia would suffer economic and political consequences. “We believe that our Western partners and the entire global community will support the territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine,” the former opposition leader said Sunday in Kiev.
Kerry said that he spoke Saturday with foreign ministers from the G-8 and other nations and that “every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Russia. They’re prepared to put sanctions in place,” he said. “They’re prepared to isolate Russia economically. The ruble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges. I can’t imagine that an occupation of another country is something that appeals to a people who are trying to reach out to the world, and particularly if it involves violence.”
“The last thing anybody wants is a military option,” Kerry said. “We want a peaceful resolution through the normal processes of international relations.” Military force is always an option, U.S. officials said.
“I won’t get into the different specific options, but this could be a very dangerous situation if this continues in a very provocative way,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on “Face The Nation.” “We have many options, like any nations do. We’re trying to deal with the diplomatic focus. That’s the appropriate, responsible approach, and that’s what we’re going to continue.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there is no broad call to arms. “If you’re asking me whether the U.S. should be taking military strikes against Russian troops in Ukraine or in Crimea, I would argue to you that I don’t think anyone is arguing for that,” he said on NBC.
Unlike in 2008, when Russian troops entered neighboring Georgia, there were no immediate signs that the United States or other nations were positioning military forces or equipment in response. The conflict with U.S.-backed Georgia, like Ukraine a former Soviet republic, brought U.S. relations with Moscow to a new low. Nearly eight years later, Russian troops remain in Georgia.
Obama’s first-term “reset” with Russia was supposed to help ease tension over Georgia and over U.S. plans to field a missile defense system in Poland and other nations at Russia’s doorstep. Diplomatic gestures such as smoothing Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization were supposed to help, as was the decision to hold the G-8 meeting in Sochi, site of the recent Winter Olympics.
“The reset with Russia is over,” Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested suspending Russia’s membership in the G-8 for at least a year, “starting right now.” “Let’s challenge him where we can,” Graham said of Putin.
Recent word from NATO is that Ukraine has taken part in some NATO exercises but is not an alliance member. That means the United States and Europe are not obligated to come to its defense.
“It is very important that we all do everything we can to calm tensions,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who flew to Kiev on Sunday. “The Ukrainians have said to me in the last couple of days that they will not rise to provocations.”
China’s Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its Web site Sunday evening condemning what it called “recent acts of extreme violence in Ukraine.” Spokesman Qin Gang urged “all parties concerned in Ukraine to resolve their internal dispute within the legal framework, and earnestly protect the legal rights and interests of all Ukrainian people to restore normal social order as soon as possible.”
Broader international action through the United Nations is unlikely because Russia holds veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, appeared to acknowledge that if the conflict escalates to a shooting war, outside military help would probably be limited to weapons or other aid short of foreign forces. “We are preparing to defend ourselves,” Sergeyev told CNN, adding, “Naturally, we will ask for military support and other kind of support” if Russia continues to escalate its forces.
Kerry appealed to Putin’s desire for respect and international legitimacy, saying the rest of the world would be forced to isolate Russia if it broke the rules. Kerry said that Putin and Russia have many options short of invasion to address legitimate concerns about the future of Russian speakers in Ukraine and that the United States is prepared to help sort through them. But he added a few digs at Putin. “Russia chose this brazen act of aggression and moved in with its forces on a completely trumped-up set of pretexts, claiming that people were threatened,” Kerry said on CBS. “And the fact is that that’s not the act of somebody who is strong. That’s the act of somebody who is acting out of weakness and out of a certain kind of desperation.”
Putin’s office issued a statement saying that “Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population” in eastern Ukraine.
UKRAINE IS PREPARING FOR ANY EVENTUALITY
Ukraine has ordered a full military mobilisation in response to Russia’s build-up of its forces in Crimea. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine was “on the brink of disaster”.
In Crimea, the Russian army is said to be digging trenches on the border with mainland Ukraine.
Ukrainian national security officials announced several other measures on Sunday:
The armed forces would to be put on “full combat readiness”
Reserves to be mobilised and trained
Foreign minister to seek help from US and UK leaders in guaranteeing its security
Emergency headquarters to be set up
Security to be boosted at key sites, including nuclear plants
Airspace to be closed to all non-civilian aircraft
Russian soldiers continue to occupy key sites on the Crimean peninsula, including airports and communications hubs, although there has been no actual violence.
The UK has joined the US, France and Canada in suspending preparations for a G8 summit in the Russian resort of Sochi in June as a reaction to the deployment, with Canada also recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations.
One Ukrainian base was surrounded by Russian troops in Perevalnoe, south of the Crimean regional capital Simferopol, with another base in Sevastopol being blockaded by a pro-Russian “self-defence unit”.
In the eastern port city of Feodosia, a group of Ukrainian marines were also blockaded into their base.
THE SITUATION TO THIS HOUR
Ukraine’s parliament met behind closed doors Sunday. At the closing of the session, acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyuh said Ukraine does not have the military force to resist Russia, according to two parliamentary members present at the meeting. Tenyuh called for talks to resolve the crisis with Russia, they said.
Thousands of protesters gathered again in Kiev’s Square, but this time they were protesting Russia’s invasion. A crowd held up signs reading “Crimea, we are with you” and “Putin, hands off Ukraine.”
In the 90 minute phone call between President Obama and Vladimir Putin, Putin told Obama that Russia reserves the right to defend its interests in the Crimea region and the Russian-speaking people who live there.
The Russian government said in a statement that, in reply to U.S. concerns over the possibility of the use of Russian armed forces in Ukraine, Putin “drew his attention to the provocative and criminal actions on the part of ultranationalists who are in fact being supported by the current authorities in Kiev.”
Ukraine, is a nation of 45 million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia’s southwestern border. It has faced a deepening split, with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east prefer a Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow. Nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority.
During a telephone call with Putin, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, head of the United Nations, said he told the Russian leader that it was crucial to “restore calm and proceed to an immediate de-escalation of the situation. Cool heads must prevail and dialogue must be the only tool in ending this crisis,” he said.
CNN’s Victoria Eastwood and Diana Magnay reported from Simferopol, Ukraine; Ian Lee, Ingrid Formanek and Victoria Butenko from Kiev, while Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Chelsea J. Carter wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Richard Roth, Laura Smith-Spark, Tom Watkins, Sara Mazloumsaki, Alla Eshchenko, Arkady Irshenko, Radina Gigova and journalist Azad Safarov contributed to this report.
Russia has appointed Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky as head of Ukraine’s Navy forces just two days ago. He has sworn allegiance to the people of Crimea. Taking his oath, regional Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov announced the creation of Crimea’s Navy.
“The Republic will have its own navy, which will be commanded by rear admiral Berezovsky,” Aksyonov told the journalists Sunday. “Subsequently, this day will be considered the birthday of the naval forces of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” he added. “All Navy troops dislocated in Sevastopol are ordered to disregard any commands coming from Ukraine’s new self-proclaimed authorities,” the PM also declared. “Do not take any orders of using arms till my personal instructions.”
Aksyonov promised that “all soldiers, who’ll swear allegiance to the Crimean people, will retain their allowance, health and social benefits, military rank and position.”
As for those, who wouldn’t want to join the Crimean navy, they have the full right “to retire” and “won’t be prosecuted” afterwards, the PM stressed.
Berezovsky was appointed Ukraine’s Navy chief on February 28, but following Sunday developments the country’s Security Council dismissed him and launched a case for “treason” and for surrendering his headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
“The prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal case against Denis Berezovsky under statute 111: state treason,” said Viktoria Syumar, deputy secretary of the Security Council. Another admiral, Sergey Hayduk, was placed in charge of the navy. Earlier in the day, Ukrainian armed forces dispatched to Crimea were said to have switched to the side of local authorities.
“Today the majority of the Ukrainian armed forces deployed in Crimea passed to the side of the authorities of the Crimean autonomous region. The transition was absolutely peaceful, without a single shot fired either by the military or by the forces of self-defense,” a source told RIA Novosti news agency.
A Russian media report on Saturday also that Ukraine’s Navy flagship, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate has refused to follow orders from Kiev, came over to Russia’s side and was returning home from the Gulf of Aden flying the Russian naval flag.
Crimeans began protesting after the new self-imposed government in Kiev introduced a law abolishing the use of other languages for official documents in Ukraine. More than half the Crimean population are Russian and use only this language for their communication. The residents have announced they are going to hold a referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region.
Editor’s Note: My regular Christian News From Ray will be sent to you later tonight. – Ray
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Jesus Christ is coming. Eat dessert first.
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CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – SPECIAL REPORT 3 UKRAINE – MIDNIGHT March 2, 2014