Current US foreign policy in a nutshell: Barack Obama tells Vladimir Putin “there will be costs” if Russia invades Ukraine. What does Putin do? He invades Ukraine. Only this time it’s official: AP reports that the Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament for permission to use the country’s military in Ukraine. Putin says the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine’s strategic region of Crimea.
From the Kremlin website:
Vladimir Putin made an appeal to the Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
“Due to the extraordinary situation on Ukraine , threatened the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation , our compatriots , the personnel of the military contingent of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation located in accordance with the international agreement on the territory of Ukraine ( Autonomous Republic of Crimea ) , on the basis of paragraph ” d ” part 1 of Article 102 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation am submitting to the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation appeal for use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine to the normalization of the political situation in this country. “
RIA further adds, the military use is virtually assured as it was leaders of Russia’s upper and lower houses of parliament who first called Saturday on President Vladimir Putin to stabilize the situation in Crimea and protect Russian citizens. The leader of Federation Council, Russia’s upper house, said the use of military force in the former Soviet nation could be justified after the opposition swept into power in Kiev last weekend.
More from the RT:
“In this situation it would even be possible, on the request of the Crimean government, to bring in a limited contingent [of troops] to guarantee security,” Valentina Matviyenko said.
The partition of Ukraine has become increasingly likely in recent days as heavily armed men understood to be Russian soldiers have taken control of key facilities and blocked roads in Crimea.
About 60 percent of the residents of Ukraine’s southern peninsula are ethnic Russians with the remainder of the population made up of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, who largely support the incoming regime.
The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, released a similar statement Saturday that said must Putin bring the situation in Ukraine under control.
“All available means” should be deployed to protect Russian citizens, said Sergei Naryshkin, a former head of the presidential administration and the current parliamentery speaker in the Duma.
The Crimea has been visited by a series of Russian Duma deputies in recent days, including former boxing champion Nikolai Valuev, former figure skater Irina Rodnina, and the first woman in space Valentina Tereshkova.
Pro-Russian protests calling for secession have taken place sporadically across the southern and eastern Ukraine since President Viktor Yanukovuych was toppled from power a week ago.
Meanwhile, international media has reported widespread military movements, believed to be units from Russia’s Black Sea fleet headquartered in Crimea, including tanks and helicopters that began on Tuesday. Ukrainian officials have accused the Kremlin of provoking conflict and called on Russia to return all soldiers to their bases.
And then this:
- RUSSIAN FEDERATION COUNCIL AGREES TO PUTIN’S REQUEST FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION IN CRIMEA – DPA
Needless to say all of this is just for show: as we have been reporting for the past 4 days, Russian troops are long since in Ukraine.
More importantly, it appears Putin is not very concerned about the impact his actions will have on equity futures when they open for trading on Sunday evening: but… but… the artificial “on paper” wealth effect. On the other hand, he certainly has a lot of concern to keep geopolitical events of the type that keep the price of crude high, always at arms length.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1kC0up6 Tyler Durden