Russia Vetoes UN Measure on Crimea Referendum, China Abstains

Russia has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged countries not to recognize the results of a Sunday referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region.

Russia was the only Security Council member to vote against the measure on Saturday, while China abstained. The 13 other council members backed the measure.

China's decision to decline to follow Russia and veto the measure could indicate further isolation for Moscow for its support of the Crimean referendum.

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the "message" from Saturday's vote was that "Russia stands isolated" in the Security Council and international community.

The referendum gives residents of Crimea two choices: join Russia or support a significant strengthening of Crimea's autonomy within Ukraine.

Shortly before the vote, Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin told the council the resolution ran counter to the principles of international law.

The measure would have affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity by declaring Sunday's Crimea referendum could "have no validity."

After the vote, China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said his country's only option was to abstain because the draft U.N. resolution would only further complicate the situation in Ukraine.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power reacted to the measure's defeat, saying "This is a sad and remarkable moment."

Situation on the ground

In a new development reported by Reuters, Ukraine's military scrambled aircraft and paratroops to confront Russian troops landing on a spit of land between Crimea and the mainland, defense officials said and the Foreign Ministry demanded their immediate withdrawal.
 
The border guard service said Ukrainian forces had taken up defensive positions on Arbatskaya Strelka, running parallel to the east of Crimea, now controlled by Russian forces. It said about 60 Russian troops had landed on the strip and begun digging in, assisted by three armored personnel carriers.
 
Six Russian helicopters arrived with 60 more servicemen about two hours later outside the village of Strelkovoye. The border guard service said talks between the two sides established that the Russian servicemen were “guarding against possible terrorist acts” against a gas pumping station.
 
“At this time, there is no threat of confrontation,” the Ukrainian border guard service said.
 
The Defense Ministry had earlier said troops dispatched to Arbatskaya Strelka had “immediately” repelled the incursion.

Rival rallies 

In Moscow Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered for rival rallies on Crimea.

Supporters of the Crimea referendum waved Russian and Soviet Union flags as they marched to Moscow's Revolution Square. Many of them wore identical red and black outfits.

Separately, chanting opponents waved Ukrainian and Russian flags. Some voiced concern that Russian intervention in Crimea could lead to war.

Also, hundreds of people turned out for a rally in Kiev where they voiced support for Crimea remaining a part of Ukraine.

International monitors in Crimea

International monitors began arriving in Crimea on Saturday to observe Sunday's referendum vote. The monitors were invited by Russia and pro-Russian Crimean officials.

Alexander Simov, a Bulgarian journalist, said he believes the vote is legitimate.

"I am going to watch the whole process. To see... I think it that it is a legal referendum. So I think it is going to be very legal," he said.



Another monitor, Helsinki University professor Johan Backman, said Western powers do not fully understand the situation in Crimea.

"Western politicians cannot understand what is going on. Because as far as I understand these countries and especially the U.S. have very weak informational base about what is going on in Russia first and secondly what is happening in Ukraine," he said. "And also Western politicians of EU they do not really understand what happens in Russia. Western countries are at a dead end. In fact they cannot take any measures against Russia in this situation. And Russia is in control totally and securely."

"Kremlin agents"

Ukraine accused "Kremlin agents'' on Saturday of fomenting deadly violence in Russian-speaking cities and urged people not to rise to provocations its new leaders fear Moscow may use to justify a further invasion after its takeover of Crimea.

From his speaker's chair in parliament, acting president Oleksander Turchinov referred to three deaths in two days in Donetsk and Kharkiv and said there was ``a real danger'' of invasion by Russian troops across Ukraine's eastern border.

Addressing members of the party of the pro-Moscow president who was ousted in last month's Kiev uprising, Turchinov said: "You know as well as we do who is organizing mass protests in eastern Ukraine - it is Kremlin agents who are organizing and funding them, who are causing people to be murdered.''
 
Two men, described by police as pro-Russian demonstrators, were shot dead in a fight in Kharkiv late on Friday. A Ukrainian nationalist was stabbed to death when pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine demonstrators clashed in Donetsk on Thursday.

U.S. reaction

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Russian acceptance of a Crimean referendum to break off from Ukraine and join Russia would be an illegal "backdoor annexation."

Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for six hours in London Friday in an effort to defuse the tensions in Crimea.

If Sunday's vote passes and the Russian parliament ratifies it, Kerry said that would violate international law, and there will be consequences. He said this is not a threat against Russia but a matter of respecting international standards for annexation and independence.

Lavrov said in a separate news conference that the talks with Kerry were useful, but the two have "no common vision" on Crimea. He said Russia will "respect the will of the Crimean people," and he criticized the threat of U.S. and European Union sanctions on Russia as "counterproductive."

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday he still hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. But Kerry said it is clear Russian President Vladimir Putin will not make any moves until after Sunday's referendum.

The Kremlin says Mr. Putin told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a phone call that the referendum is "fully consistent with international law and the U.N. Charter."  However, the U.S. and European Union say the referendum violates Ukraine's constitution and international law.

Moscow acknowledged Thursday that it is deploying thousands more troops and military hardware near the Ukrainian border for two weeks of military maneuvers.

The U.S. State Department said it was "very concerned" about the deployment. The U.S. estimates that Russia already may have 20,000 troops in Crimea.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is traveling to Poland and Lithuania next week to meet with regional partners to discuss events in Ukraine.  A White House statement says Biden will consult on steps to support Ukraine's sovereignty, and affirm international "collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty."


fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/un-to-vote-on-crimea-resolution/1871773.html

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