Official Website of Ukraine’s President
President Petro Poroshenko holds up a copy of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement after it was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada on September 16.
Shortly after that, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said Ukraine’s ousted president had sent a letter to President Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in his country. Speaking at the U.N. Security Council’s March 3 emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine, he quoted from the letter dated March 1: “I would call on the president of Russia, Mr. Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine.” At that same emergency session, Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said Russia had deployed some 16,000 additional troops to the region since the previous week. Russia had poured troops into Crimea, taking over practically all of Ukraine’s military facilities.
Ukraine continued to press its case at the United Nations, as meeting after meeting of the Security Council was called. Ambassador Sergeyev said Russia was telling “bold-faced lies” as it continued toward its goal of taking over Crimea. Such lies included references to the Russian-speaking population being threatened and its rights violated; the presence of anti-Semites and Nazis in the interim government of Ukraine; and statements that referred to Russian self-defense forces, and not Russian military, as being on the ground in Ukraine. Russia, he explained, was employing “the combined scenarios of Ossetia and Abkhazia” in Ukraine. He said Russia has distributed Russian passports and citizenship to residents of Crimea and was claiming the right to come in to protect its citizens. He also noted that, because Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians had said they would boycott the March 16 referendum on Crimea’s status, Russians and pro-Russian separatists would deliver a majority vote for Crimea to join the Russian Federation.
Soon thereafter, on March 6, European Council President von Rompuy announced the EU would sign the political portion of its Association Agreement with Ukraine before the presidential election, saving the free trade pact for afterwards. The Group of Seven told Russia on March 12 that it risked facing international action unless it stopped its moves toward the annexation of Crimea. And Ukraine, led by acting President Turchynov, was preparing for a Russian invasion of its mainland as its armed forces were activated into full combat readiness.
The day after the staged referendum on the Crimea seceding from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation, on March 17, President Putin recognized Crimea as an independent state in defiance of the international community’s insistence that it remain part of Ukraine. On March 18 Mr. Putin and Crimean leaders signed treaties making Ukraine’s Crimea and the city of Sevastopol part of the Russian Federation. Mr. Putin said to a standing ovation that “in the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.”
In Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement on the guarantees of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people within Ukraine. The document also recognized Crimean Tatars as an indigenous people within Ukraine and recognized the Mejlis and the Kurultai as governing bodies of the Crimean Tatar people. Crimean Tatars and others were reported to be leaving Crimea, and the Ukrainian mainland was making preparations to host the refugees.
Prime Minister Yatsenyuk joined the European Union leadership on March 21 in Brussels in signing the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, a historic event that marked Kyiv’s return to Western civilization. The agreement closed the door to Kyiv’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union being launched by the Russian government. Yet the signing was an anticlimactic event that drew little celebration in Ukraine given that it had required a violent overthrow of a dictatorial president and the death of more than 100 Euro-Maidan activists. The EU and Ukrainian leadership also deliberately played down the signing ceremony in light of the Russian invasion of Crimea that could lead to further unrest in the southeastern oblasts of Ukraine. The Association Agreement was formally ratified by Ukraine and the European Parliament on September 16. The legislation gained 79 percent support among the national deputies in Kyiv and 77 percent in Strasbourg, France. “The readiness to give one’s life and die for your fatherland is considered to be very natural, but the Heavenly Brigade and 872 courageous Ukrainian soldiers died not only for Ukraine. They risked their heads so that we could take our dignified place in the family of European peoples,” said President Poroshenko, who had been elected on May 25. “Since World War II, no nation ever paid such a high price for the right to be Europeans.” One negative note was that the actual implementation of the Deep and Free Trade Area was postponed until January 1, 2016, as a result of Russia’s threat to launch a trade war against Ukraine.
On March 24, leaders from the G-7 suspended their participation in the G-8 with Russia – “until Russia changes course” – and expressed support for the Ukrainian government. A strongly worded statement demanded that Russia “respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, begin discussions with the government of Ukraine, and avail itself of offers of international mediation and monitoring to address any legitimate concerns.”
As Russian forces invaded Ukraine, RFE/RL reported on war on another front – in the sphere of information. Russian media and leading political figures were shrill in their denunciations of “fascists” in Kyiv and their claims of anti-Semitic incidents, of attacks on ethnic Russians in the eastern reaches of Ukraine and of floods of beleaguered refugees streaming across the border into Russia. RFE/RL’s Robert Coalson wrote on March 5: “But much of this information is demonstrably false, emerging from unsourced media reports, then making its way into the statements of Russian politicians, and even into Western media reports. Events are echoing the 1997 U.S. film ‘Wag the Dog,’ in which spin-doctors use the media to whip up support for a nonexistent war. ‘This is how wars get started. As they say, “truth is the first casualty of war” and we are really seeing that with the way Russia is handling this,’ says Catherine Fitzpatrick, a writer and translator who has been live-blogging events in Ukraine for Interpretermag.com. ‘I think they are really irresponsible. They are inciting a lot of hatred and whipping up a lot of panic. People in places like Kharkiv are watching Russian TV. They may be watching also local TV, but they are dependent on Russian TV and a lot of it is not checking out.’ ”
On April 10, Freedom House President Kramer weighed in: “Kremlin propaganda is trying to paint everything that is happening in Ukraine as being caused by fascists and extremists. I have not seen evidence of that. I do recognize that there are some parts of the opposition that are viewed as far-right, but I don’t see them playing a dominant role in the current political situation.” Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, he also praised the actions of Right Sector and Svoboda leaders who, in his opinion, had made efforts to reach out to certain communities and dispel the notion that they are anti-Semitic or anti-Russian. The expert said it was necessary to keep an eye on the actions of Right Sector and Svoboda activists, but it was more important to fight the Russian propaganda.
Meanwhile, NATO members on April 1 released a statement in which they declared: “We, the foreign ministers of NATO, are united in our condemnation of Russia’s illegal military intervention in Ukraine and Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We do not recognize Russia’s illegal and illegitimate attempt to annex Crimea. We urge Russia to take immediate steps, as set out in the statement by the NATO-Ukraine Commission, to return to compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, and to engage immediately in a genuine dialogue towards a political and diplomatic solution that respects international law and Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. …” The declaration also said NATO and Ukraine would intensify their cooperation in the framework of the Distinctive Partnership and would implement immediate and longer-term measures in order to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to provide for its own security.” At the same time, NATO said it was suspending “all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia” but would continue political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council.
As the pre-term presidential election approached, it became evident that Mr. Petro Poroshenko was favored to win. According to a poll released in late March by four of Ukraine’s leading polling firms, the chocolate king enjoyed a commanding lead over his top rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Almost 25 percent of eligible voters said they’d cast their ballots for Mr. Poroshenko compared to more than 8 percent for Ms. Tymoshenko. In a second-round runoff, he would earn 46 percent compared to her 12 percent. Another contender, boxing legend Vitali Klitschko, earned 9 percent in the poll. But he announced on March 29 that he was withdrawing his presidential candidacy to support Mr. Poroshenko, who in turn would support Mr. Klitschko’s candidacy in the Kyiv mayoral election, to be held the same day. “We are pledging to fulfill the politics of European reforms, which will ensure the guaranteed protection of human rights and freedom, rule of law, economic development, free enterprise, uprooting corruption and conducting a policy of social justice,” said a declaration of unity signed by Messrs. Poroshenko and Klitschko published on March 29 on Mr. Poroshenko’s Facebook page.