AP
Soldiers in unmarked uniforms walk near Ukrainian marine base in the city of Feodosia, Crimea on Sunday.
NATO has expressed fears of a Russian military push beyond Crimea into
eastern Ukraine and further south to Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria.
U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander
in Europe said the Russian force massed at the Ukrainian border «is
very, very sizable and very, very ready.»
The top NATO commander told an event held by the German Marshall Fund
think tank that he was very concerned about the threat to
Transdniestria.
There is absolutely sufficient [Russian] force postured on the eastern
border of Ukraine to run to Transdniestria if the decision was made to
do that and that is very worrisome.»
Russia is acting much more like an adversary than a partner,» the U.S. general said.
Transdniestria, a Russian-speaking industrialised region of Moldova,
broke away from the former Soviet state in 1990. In 2006 Transdniestria
overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to join Russia, but Moscow ignored
the vote as it tried to work out a confederation arrangement for
Moldova. After Crimea’s referendum on splitting from Ukraine and
reuniting with Russia, the Speaker of Transdniestria’s Parliament
appealed to his Russian counterpart in the State Duma lower house to
provide legislative possibilities for the region’s accession to Russia.
However, Speaker of the Russian Parliament’s upper house said the
absorption of Transdniestria or Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia were not on the agenda «at this stage.»
The three self-proclaimed republics «have not asked for joining Russia;
it is inadvisable at this stage to talk about this,» Speaker Valentina
Matviyenko said in an interview. «One should not portray Russia as a
country bent on seizing territories. This question is not on the
agenda.»
Russia’s top defence official has also sought to dispel Western fears of a Russian military move into Ukraine.
Russia is complying with all international agreements on troop limits
near its border with Ukraine,» said Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly
Antonov.
Mr Antonov told reporters on on Saturday that eight eight groups of
foreign monitors from nine Western nations carried out inspections of
Russian troop deployments near Ukrainian borders.
The inspectors «have not established any undeclared military activity
that could pose a threat to [Russia’s] neighbouring countries,» he said.
In Crimea, the Russian flag is now flying over 189 Ukrainian military
installations, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday, a day after
pro-Russian forces stormed and seized the Belbek air force base,
Ukraine’s last major military facility in the peninsula. The Ukrainian
commander of the airbase was detained after the takeover, but released
on Sunday.
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk pro-Russian demonstrators again
rallied on Sunday in support of their demand for a referendum on
greater autonomy from Kiev.
Russia’s closest ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka voiced
concerns that Crimea had set a «bad precedent,» even as he admitted that
the region was now «de facto» a part of Russia.
The statement reflected the unease Belarus and other post-Soviet states feel over Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
At the same time the Belarus leader blamed Ukraine’s new government for provoking Russia.
Why did they ban the Russian language after coming to power and put
pressure on Russian-speakers?» he told journalists on Sunday. «They gave
a pretext and reason for Russia to intervene.»
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