Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly replied to President Barack Obama’s threat of sanctions that would affect a small group of oligarchs within Putin’s circle. President Obama tactfully avoided any direct threat to Putin himself, yet the treaty was still signed making Crimea a part of Russia.
The majority of Ukraine’s southern region residents supported the move. However, there are still formalities that must be followed. Both houses of parliament within Russia will have to approve the treaty in order to make it valid.
In a televised address to the nation, the Crimean prime minister, President Putin, and the parliament speaker signed the treaty, with Putin relaying that the West is encouraging discourse in Ukraine in order to destroy its historic ties with Russia.
Meanwhile, Putin publicly dismissed the claim by Obama and the West that the Crimean vote is, in fact, illegitimate.
Obama’s sanctions would freeze any assets in the U.S and ban the travel of seven Russian government officials and four Crimea based separatist leaders.
Critics immediately pounced on President Obama, stating it was not enough to discourage President Vladimir Putin or cause him to change course regarding Crimea.
Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Constitutional Legislation Committee, Andrei Klishas, stated “I quite like the company I have found myself in.”
Head of the parliamentary committee on Eurasian integration Leonid Slutsky stated, “I don’t have any accounts or real estate in the U.S., and as regard private visits, I’ll have to do without them.”
Putin defended Russia’s move to annex Crimea by claiming the rights of the ethnic Russians have been abused by the Ukrainian government. He called Ukraine authorities “nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites.”
“Those who were behind recent events, they were preparing a coup d’etat, another one. They were planning to seize power, stopping at nothing,” President Putin stated defending the reason of this so-called treaty.
Putin also denied the accusations that Russia invaded Crimea prior to a referendum vote, claiming that Russian troops were sent to Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea, which Ukraine allows up to 25,000 Russian troops to occupy at any given time.
He also conveyed that the Crimea’s vote that took place on Sunday to join Russia is in line with international law, reflecting its right for self-determination.
“Our Western partners headed by the United States prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exceptionalism and their sense of being the chosen ones. That they can decide the destinies of the world, that it is only them who can be right,” stated Putin to a joint session of parliament.
Putin relayed a warning to the West, notifying the United States that he is not seeking to spark a confrontation, but he will defend Russia’s interests.
Vice President Joe Biden describes Russia’s actions in Crimea as nothing more than a “land grab.” The vice president also warned Russia that the United States and Europe will impose further sanctions as Moscow seeks to annex the Ukrainian territory.
Vice President Joe Biden tried to calm the fears of European leaders, letting them know that the majority of the world does not recognize the referendum in Crimea that annexed Russia to the peninsula in Ukraine.
Biden stated, “The world has seen through Russia’s actions and has rejected the flawed logic.”
Crimea’s parliament declared the region an independent state and its residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of the split.
Moscow is not disturbed by any of this, the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin openly tweeted, “Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it? I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker,” mocking the United States and its sanctions.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has suspended military cooperation the U.K. had with Russia.
Hague expressed to British lawmakers that it is regrettable Putin is choosing a path of isolation in the annexation of Crimea and denying Russian and Crimean citizens of a partnership with the international community.
The U.K. has canceled naval exercises, suspended military export licenses to Russia, and a proposed Royal Navy ship visit to Russia.
Foreign Secretary Hague is not pleased with the relationship Britain now has with Russia, but it is one they are forced to have.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday that leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia’s participation in the club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia’s incursion into Crimea.
The other seven members of the group had already suspended preparations for a G-8 summit that Russia is scheduled to host in June in Sochi.
