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MOSCOW (AP) - In some ways, the venue Vladimir Putin chose and the emotional lecture he gave the world about Russia's actions in Ukraine said it all.
In an hour-long chat with a handful of Kremlin pool reporters at his presidential residence, Putin sat in an easy chair and spoke with the bravado of an ex-KGB agent suspicious of Western plots.
Wagging his finger at the reporters, the defiant leader dismissed the threat of U.S. and European Union sanctions, alleged that 'rampaging neo-Nazis' dominate Ukraine's capital, and said the Russian and Ukrainian soldiers locked in a standoff in Crimea are actually 'brothers in arms.' A look at Putin's appearance and what it says about the crisis and him.
STANDING TOUGH
Putin has long been famous for his cool public demeanor at public appearances that often are carefully stage managed.
But during Tuesday's news conference - which was televised live across Russia - he made it clear that he takes the Ukraine crisis personally.
He accepted questions from the reporters about the threat of war in Ukraine, the Russian military takeover of the country's Crimea Peninsula, and the looming Western sanctions.
But he batted them away with his usual mix of disdainful sarcasm and political arguments in a rapid-fire delivery. When someone's cellphone rang in the middle of live broadcast, something that reportedly makes him mad, Putin paused then continued his speech.
Putin's performance seemed to reflect his genuine anger about what he sees as the West's hypocrisy and its heavy-handed involvement in Ukrainian affairs.
His remarks also showed what many observers have spotted: his deep involvement and strong personal feelings about the Ukrainian crisis, which he blames on the West.
He also seems to see Ukraine as a defining moment of his 14-year rule and a key turning point for the post-Cold War Europe.
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PUTIN'S RATIONALE
Putin acknowledged that the Ukrainians who rallied against their president, Viktor Yanukovych, were driven by anger against corruption and nepotism in his government. But Putin said the nation's new government is merely 'replacing some cheats with others.'
He denounced the ouster of Yanukovych as an 'unconstitutional coup and armed seizure of power.' Putin claimed that the radical nationalists wearing swastika-like bands had come to control Kiev, and alleged that the snipers who shot and killed more than 80 people during the protesters were provocateurs, not government soldiers.
'Armed, masked militants are roaming around Kiev,' he said. Asked if Russia would recognize the outcome of Ukraine's election set for May, he said, 'We will not if such terror continues.'
He insisted that Yanukovych, who fled to Russia, remains the only legitimate leader of Ukraine. But he also spoke about Yanukovych with disdain, saying he has failed in his presidential duties.
U.S.-TRAINED RADICALS
Putin accused the West of staging the massive protests in the Ukrainian capital in order to reduce Russia's clout there. He claimed that radical demonstrators involved in violent clashes with police in Kiev were trained by Western instructors.
'I have a feeling that they sit somewhere in a lab in America over a big puddle and conduct experiments, as if with rats, without understanding the consequences of what they are doing,' he said.
He said the ouster of Yanukovych hours after he had signed a deal to surrender much of his power and hold early elections has plunged Ukraine into chaos and put it on the verge of breakup.
'READY TO USE ALL MEANS'
Putin said that 'we reserve the right to use all means we have' to protect Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine from violent Ukrainian nationalists. But he added that he hopes there will be no need for sending Russian troops there.
'We don't want to enslave anyone or dictate anything,' he said. 'But we won't be able to stay aside, if we see them being hunted down, destroyed and harassed.'
He made it clear that Russia doesn't see the Ukrainian military as a serious adversary, saying that Russian and the Ukrainian soldiers are 'brothers in arms' who will stand 'on one side of the barricades.'
He said that weeklong war games in western Russian that involved 150,000 troops, hundreds of tanks and dozens of combat jets, had been planned earlier and weren't linked to the developments in Ukraine, adding that he ordered them back to their bases.
STANDOFF IN CRIMEA
Putin says that Russian forces in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea, which hosts a major Russian naval base, have beefed up security to fend off threats from Ukrainian nationalists. He denied that the troops, who have overtaken Ukrainian military bases across Crimea, were Russian and described them as local 'self-defense forces.'
Putin said that Moscow has no intention to annex Crimea. At the same time, he strongly supported a local referendum on Crimea's status, saying that people there have the right to determine their fate.
TURNING TABLE ON THE WEST
Putin rejected Western accusations of Russian aggression against Ukraine, saying the U.S. should know better, given what it has done.
'We have to remind them about the U.S. action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, where they acted without any sanction of the United Nations Security Council, or wilfully interpreted its resolution as in the case of Libya,' he said. 'Our partners, particularly in the United States, always clearly formulate their geopolitical and state interests and aggressively pursue them. They try to pull the rest of the world under them and start hitting those who put up resistance, eventually finishing them off, as a rule.'
He did not mention that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, starting a war that lasted for nearly a decade and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.
THINK TWICE ABOUT SANCTIONS
Putin has shrugged off Western threats to impose political and economic sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, saying that they will backfire against the West.
'In the modern world, where everything is linked and everyone depends on others in one way or another, we can incur damage to one another, but it would be mutual damage,' he said.
--Ryan Craggs
Asked about the possibility that members of the Group of Eight will not show up at its summit scheduled in Sochi in June, he said: 'If they don't want to come, it's OK.'
From Reuters:
More than 1,000 demonstrators with Ukrainian flags took to the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Tuesday, for the first time outnumbering pro-Moscow youths who have seized its government building, which flies the Russian flag.
President Vladimir Putin's declaration on Saturday that Russia had the right to invade Ukraine was accompanied by pro-Russian demonstrations across Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking south and east.
But in the four days since, the tide of opinion in eastern cities appears to be turning back towards Kiev.
-- Ryan Craggs
Read more here.
Picture him brooding silently over the geopolitical chessboard as he planned his latest move -- the weekend's swift, stunning, and unprovoked invasion of Crimea. His boldness took America and Europe by surprise and gave Putin a decided advantage at the match's start.
How can President Obama and his European allies counter Putin's opening gambit? And can the United States roll back what Putin has just pulled off -- the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the heart of Europe?
--Eline Gordts
Read the full piece here.
--Stephen Calabria
From Reuters:
The United States received notification from Russia ahead of its test-fire of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Tuesday, in line with Moscow's commitments under the nuclear arms treaty between the two countries, a U.S. official said.
The official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said initial notification of Russia's test plans pre-dated Russia's military intervention in Crimea.
Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces launched an RS-12M Topol missile from the southerly Astrakhan region near the Caspian Sea and the dummy warhead hit its target at a proving ground in Kazakhstan, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov told state-run news agency RIA.
--Eline Gordts
--Braden Goyette --Stephen Calabria
From Mediaite:
BREAKING: 'All planned bilateral activities between the Canadian Armed Forces and military of the Russian Federation ... suspended' - Harper
- Michelle Zilio (@MichelleZilio) March 4, 2014
This is an important time for #Ukraine. Positive discussions today with legitimate Acting PM & President in Kyiv. http://ift.tt/1f5R5RD
- John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 4, 2014 --Luke Johnson --Sabrina Siddiqui
The involvement of several nationalist groups - a small but highly visible presence - and of ultra-radical, non-democratic movements without European sympathies has produced different reactions. Their presence was used actively by Russia, and to some extent by Yanukovych's government, to discredit the movement. But it also raised fears of a possible takeover of Independence Square by the far right - even though a popular movement was behind the protests and any attempt to categorize it in political terms would be an over-simplification.
--Ryan Craggs
It started with Benghazi. When you kill Americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression. #Ukraine
- Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) March 4, 2014
From Reuters:
--Stephen Calabria
Read more here.
INFOGRAPHIC: Map showing Russian gas pipelines transiting Ukraine http://t.co/mFGotkQ5Y7
- Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 2 years ago
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