PUTIN TO INVADE UKRAINE

          

PUTIN TO INVADE UKRAINE

By M A Amin
Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded and won his parliament's approval on Saturday to invade Ukraine, where the new government warned of war, put its troops on high alert and appealed to NATO for help.



Putin's open assertion of the right to send troops to a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe creates the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.



Acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered troops to be placed on high combat alert. Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he had met European and U.S. officials and sent a request to NATO to "examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".



Putin's move was a direct rebuff to Western leaders who had repeatedly urged Russia not to intervene, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who just a day before had held a televised address to warn Moscow of "costs" if it acted.



President Putin had a 90-minute phone call with US President Barack Obama in which, the Kremlin said, he made clear that Moscow reserves the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers in Ukraine.







He also stressed that this would not be limited to the current flashpoint of Crimea "if violence spread further in the eastern regions of Ukraine".



Mr Obama, the White House said, told Mr Putin that the appropriate way to address any concerns "is peacefully through direct engagement" with the Ukrainian government and international mediating bodies.



UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for "an immediate restoration of calm and direct dialogue", whilst Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen tweeted: "Urgent need for de-escalation in Crimea."



The UN Security Council was holding an emergency session on the crisis on Saturday, and Nato and EU officials are due to hold talks in the coming days.







Troops with no insignia on their uniforms but clearly Russian - some in vehicles with Russian number plates - have already seized Crimea, an isolated peninsula in the Black Sea where Moscow has a large military presence in the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet. Kiev's new authorities have been powerless to stop them.



"This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968," said a Western official on condition of anonymity. "Realistically, we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands. The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine.