Crimean independence vote and Russian annexation: A primer

Washington Post

- ‎6 minutes ago‎

MOSCOW - Ukraine's southern peninsula of Crimea has set a referendum for Sunday on whether it should secede and join Russia. Easy passage is expected.

As Ukrainians brace for Sunday's referendum on Crimea, the country's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs said the government is preparing for a potential invasion by Russia but he is hoping a diplomatic solution to the crisis can still be found.

“We ready to stand the aggression and we are in constant talks with other partners about how to stop not only the aggression, but how to stop the decision-making process [of Russia]," Andriy Deshchytsa told reporters in Kiev on Saturday.

A meeting Friday in London between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed to reach a solution. Mr. Kerry and the EU have said Russia will face sanctions if it accepts the results of the referendum. The Russians have countered by insisting that they are following the will of Crimean citizens and the government in Kiev is not legitimate, having overthrown the duly elected president of Viktor Yannukovych, who was pro-Russian.

Tensions have been running high across the country leading up to the vote particularly in Eastern Ukraine which also has large Russian-speaking populations. On Friday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, two people died and a police officer was wounded in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian groups. One person died earlier in the week in similar clashes in Donetsk. The Ukrainian government has blamed “Kremlin agents” for causing the disturbances, something Russia denies.

Mr. Deshchytsa said more countries are backing Ukraine’s position and he believes there will be strong support for a U.S. resolution on Crimea at the United Nations Security Council which says the referendum “can have no validity”. The motion is expected to be put to a vote on Saturday but Russia will likely veto the measure.

“We are getting more and more support, wider and stronger support in the international arena,” he said Saturday adding that China also supports Ukraine’s position. He also plans to travel to Brussels on Sunday for meetings with EU officials and NATO on Monday.

He added that the Ukrainian government is prepared to consider granting more powers to Crimea, which is already considered an autonomous territory. “We are ready to discuss this in a dialogue, sitting around a table, but not talking to the guns which are on the streets through Crimea.”