US President Barack Obama has vehemently rejected the Russian bid for a “slapdash” referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea region to merge it with Russia.
“We completely reject a referendum patched together in a few weeks with Russian military personnel basically taking over Crimea. We reject its legitimacy. It is contrary to international law. It is contrary to the Ukrainian constitution,” Obama told reporters following his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
“I know that we’ve heard from the Russian Federation this notion that these kinds of decisions are often made in other places, and they’ve even analogised it to Scotland or other situations of that sort,” he said.
“In each of those cases that they’ve cited, decisions were made by a national government through a long, lengthy, deliberative process. It’s not something that happens in a few days, and it’s not something that happens with an outside army essentially taking over the region,” Obama said.
“The issue now is whether or not Russia is able to militarily dominate a region of somebody else’s country, engineer a slapdash referendum, and ignore not only the Ukrainian constitution but a Ukrainian government that includes parties that are historically in opposition with each other — including the party of the previous president,” he said.
“So we will not recognise, certainly, any referendum that goes forward. My hope is that as a consequence of diplomatic efforts over the next several days that there will be a rethinking of the process that’s been put forward,” said the US president.
Stand-off hardens
The East-West split re-opened by the crisis in Ukraine hardened when President Barack Obama threw Washington’s weight firmly behind Ukraine in its stand-off with Moscow.
Obama yesterday welcomed Kiev’s interim premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk to the White House and stood by his side as both leaders sternly warned Russia that Ukraine would not surrender its sovereignty.
Obama repeated that Moscow would face unspecified “costs” if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not back down, and rejected a bid to hold what he called a “slapdash” referendum in Crimea.
“There’s another path available and we hope President Putin is willing to seize that path,” Obama told White House reporters, sitting alongside Yatsenyuk after their talks the Oval Office.
“But if he does not, I am very confident that the international community will stand firmly behind the Ukrainian government.”
Yatsenyuk thanked Washington for its support and declared: “We fight for our freedom. We fight for our independence. We fight for our sovereignty. And we will never surrender.”
Russian troops backed by ad hoc local militias secured the territory in the chaotic days last month after Ukraine’s former pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown by a street revolt.
Betting on diplomacy
Obama said he hopes the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, but Ukraine and the West do not recognise the referendum and Moscow does not recognise the Kiev government.
“We have been very clear that we consider the Russian incursion into Crimea outside of its bases to be a violation of international law,” Obama said, underlining the depth of the divide.
“And we have been very firm in saying that we will stand with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in ensuring that that territorial integrity and sovereignty is maintained.”
Yatsenyuk said he was “ready and open” for talks with Russia, but warned: “We want to be very clear that Ukraine is and will be a part of the Western world.”
During his trip to Washington, Yatsenyuk also plans to try to iron out details of a USD 35 billion aid package he says his nation’s teetering economy needs to stay afloat over the coming two years.