Russia Moves to Deploy Troops in Ukraine
Authorization Comes in Defiance of Warnings Not to Intervene
By Lukas I. Alpert in Moscow, James Marson in Kiev and Paul Sonne in Simferopol
Updated March 1, 2014 12:51 p.m. ET
Russia's parliament voted unanimously on Saturday to approve a request from President Vladimir Putin to deploy troops in Ukraine, defying warnings from U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders not to intervene.
Russian lawmakers also asked Mr. Putin to recall the country's ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Obama has publicly warned Russia that there would be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.
Though a major escalation in the openness of Russia's commitment, Saturday's move comes as Russian troops and their local allies have already largely taken control of Crimea, a restive province of Ukraine that belonged to Russia until 1954 and remains predominantly pro-Russian.
The new government in Kiev called an urgent session of its security council Saturday evening and set a special parliamentary meeting for Sunday to discuss the Russian move.
Vitali Klitschko, the former boxing champion who is one of the protest movement's most prominent leaders, called on parliament to call a "general mobilization" to respond to the threat, apparently referring to Ukraine's military.
Heavily armed troops, many from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, surrounded key facilities across the region in the past day. The newly installed pro-Russian leader of Crimea Saturday formally asked Russia to deploy its troops to help secure the region.
Mr. Putin's request didn't specify how many troops might be sent. It said they would be deployed "until the normalization of the social-political situation in the country."
The request cited the "threat to the lives of Russian citizens" living in Crimea, as well as the personnel of the Black Sea Fleet.
The approval of Mr. Putin's request doesn't necessarily mean troops will be dispatched immediately, an official said.
"Having the right (to deploy forces) doesn't mean immediately, momentarily exercising that. So we will hope that the situation will go according to a better scenario and won't continue to be exacerbated as it is now," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a radio interview.
Mr. Peskov said in the interview that no decision had been made yet on deploying forces to Ukraine or on recall of the ambassador.
Sergei Aksyonov, who was appointed prime minister of Crimea after armed men took over the regional parliament this week, said troops from the Black Sea Fleet are guarding vital facilities in the region and helping with patrols to ensure public order. Mr. Aksyonov, who is pro-Russian, said he was taking command of the peninsula's police and army.
Ukraine military bases were quickly surrounded and sealed off by Russian forces in Crimea as the Kremlin made preparations for a larger-scale landing of troops.
Russian troops were posted near the gates and around the perimeters of several bases near Sevastopol. When asked why they were there, officers replied that they were providing security to the bases, to stop any pro-Russian citizens who might try to take them.
The troops posted around the base had no markings on their uniforms. Their commander, when asked if he could reveal their nationality, said "of course not." Others admitted they were Russian. Ukrainian officials at the base said the Russians were allowing food and provisions to be brought in.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused the government in Kiev of trying to destabilize the region and directing gunmen to capture Crimea's ministry of internal affairs building overnight. It said the attack, which couldn't be verified, was averted with "decisive action."
Five people who live in the buildings next to the ministry building in Simferopol said everything was peaceful Friday night and they heard nothing. There were no signs of struggle at the building complex.
Vladimir Krashevsky, a top official at the Simferopol-based division of the local berkut, or riot police, said there was no attack by Kiev-allied gunmen on the building, where he gave an impromptu news conference Saturday.
"There was no attack here and there won't be one," he said.
The resolution authorizing the use of force in Ukraine cited the threat to Russian citizens there, but officials in Moscow repeatedly suggested that the Kremlin was coming to the defense of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, even if they hold Ukrainian citizenship.
"There's a threat today to the lives and safety of our fellow citizens, of Russian speakers, of ethnic Russians," Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the upper house of parliament, told reporters after the vote. "We can't remain indifferent."
Asked about possible western counter-intervention, she said there was no ground for it. "With all due respect to the United States, where is the U.S. located and where is Russia? This is happening on Russia's border."
Alexander Chekalin, a senator, spoke before the vote, saying, "we are one people, speaking one language, following one faith and sharing one history." The eastern and southern parts of Ukraine have a large number of Russian-speakers who are members of the Orthodox church.
Friday, armed men surrounded Crimea's two main airports, took command of its state television network and set up checkpoints along the key roads connecting the peninsula to the rest of Ukraine. On Saturday, professional military men in unmarked green camouflage uniforms appeared outside the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol.
Ukrainian officials say the well-equipped men—many of whom carry sophisticated automatic weapons—are Russian soldiers.
The leader of the Crimean Tatars, the ethnic minority that accounts for 12% of Crimea and supports the new government in Kiev, sought to dispel the notion that the seizure of authority in Crimea had grown out of a citizen uprising.
"If there are still people who still think that the Crimean Council of Ministers building and the Crimean parliament were seized by either some form of self-organized militia or some other civilian group, I have no time for these people," said Refat Chubarov, the Tatar leader and deputy in the parliament, at a news conference Saturday.
"These buildings were seized by specially trained people acting on military orders," he said.
The unrest in Crimea has raised the possibility of the de facto partition of Ukraine, where a new government is struggling to consolidate control following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych a week ago.
Mr. Aksyonov said Saturday he was taking charge of Crimea's interior ministry, security service, armed forces, emergency situations ministry, fleet, tax service and border guard. Russian state media reported that he said a referendum on the region's status within Ukraine would be brought forward to March 30 from May.
Ukraine's new prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called the continuing militarization in Crimea a provocation intended to draw in Ukraine militarily. He demanded Russian forces return to their base in Sevastopol.
"The presence of Russian troops is nothing more than a violation of the agreement for the Black Sea Fleet to be in Ukraine," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. "We urge the Russian government to withdraw their troops and return them to their base."
For the U.S. and Europe, which appeared only days ago to have succeeded in foiling Moscow's efforts to pull Ukraine back into its orbit, the moves presaged a potentially unstable and violent future for the country. The new government has struggled to establish its authority while seeking closer ties—and tens of billions of dollars in financial aid—from the West.
On Saturday, several European foreign ministers called for Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. EU foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting Monday to discuss events in Ukraine, three EU diplomats said. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to head to Kiev on Monday as part of discussions to put together an assistance package for the country.
Yury Vorobyov, the Russian senator who proposed calling on Mr. Putin to recall the ambassador to Washington, said Mr. Obama's threat of "costs" for Russia if it intervenes required a response.
"He has crossed the red line. He has insulted the Russian people," Mr. Vorobyov told legislators.
—Alan Cullison, Laurence Norman, Frances Robinson, Stacy Meichtry and Patricia Kowsmann contributed to this article.
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