Barack Obama rules out using force against Russia

US President urges Russia to de-escalate the crisis over Ukraine or face the consequences of more sanctions

Mr Obama’s comments came as the Ukraine’s defence minister resigned over his handling of the Crimean Crisis  

 

Barack Obama has said that the US would stand by its European allies in the face of Russian aggression but ruled out using force to dislodge Moscow’s forces from the Crimean peninsula.

“Every Nato ally has assurances that Nato will uphold article security protections. We have a strong Nato treaty, so if it happens to our allies, we will act together,” he said in Brussels on Tuesday.

But in comments apparently designed to mock Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea, he added that “Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbours, not out of strength but out of weakness.”

“We have considerable influence on our neighbours. We generally don't need to invade them in order to have a strong cooperative relationship with them,” he jibed.

“The facts on the ground are that the Russian military controls Crimea. There is no expectation that they will be dislodged by force. There is no simple solution to what has taken place in Crimea,” he said.

Mr Obama’s comments came as the Ukraine’s defence minister resigned over his handling of the Crimean Crisis, which has seen Russian troops overrun and annex the country’s Black Sea peninsular.
The ongoing crisis in Crimea claimed its first political scalp on Tuesday, as the Ukrainian defence minister resigned over accusations of indecision in the face of the Russian invasion.
General Ihor Tenyukh tendered his resignation early on Tuesday morning, a day after over 18,000 Ukrainian troops on the peninsula began a long-awaited withdrawal from the Russian-occupied peninsula.
"Given that some may not like the actions I am taking ... I will not cling to my post," Mr Tenyukh told MPs. "If the leadership has a different view of developing events and other candidates, I, acting defence minister General Tenyukh, offer my resignation."
Parliament, which initially rejected his resignation, later appointed Colonel General Myhaylo Kova, a former paratrooper and border troops commander, as his successor.
The government in Kiev has faced increasing criticism for failing to order Ukrainian forces to withdraw from what was obviously a hopeless situation.
Oleksander Turchynov, the interim president of Ukraine, finally gave the order to pull out on Monday morning after Russian forces overran the marine base in Feodosia, the last major military asset still under Ukrainian control.
Forty seven marines from the base crossed the Crimean border at Chongar on Monday night, in the first convoy to withdraw to the mainland.
But soldiers, sailors and airmen in Crimea have said they received next to no orders from Kiev since Russian forces began to seize key strategic points on February 27, leaving stranded forces to organise their own defence and later evacuation.
“I don’t see what normal person can behave like that,” said an airforce colonel from the Belbek base of the ministry of defence in Kiev, shortly after his superior, Col Yuli Mamchur, had effectively been kidnapped by the Russians in Saturday’s raid. “We still don’t have any orders. So we won’t do anything until we get the commander back, then we’ll follow his orders.”
Russia has indicated it will move rapidly to enforce its own military presence in Crimea on Monday, when Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, announced a large-scale modernisation and reinforcement of the Black Sea Fleet based there.
Tensions have eased considerably since Russian formally incorporated Crimea into its federation on Friday.
Internal road blocks have been removed, and traffic at the new border posts is flowing relatively freely.
Regular commuters from the town of Novoolekseevka, on the Ukrainian side of the border just north of the Chongar peninsular, made the four-hour train journey into Simferopol without being asked to show documents on Tuesday.
In mainland Ukraine, tensions are mounting over an apparent government effort to crack down on the armed groups that emerged during the three-month uprising that led to the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych in February.
Oleksandr Muzychko, better known by his nickname of Sashko Biliy, was shot dead by police after resisting arrest in a cafe in the Rivne region, Ukrainian’s deputy interior minister said on Tuesday.
Mr Muzychko gained notoriety after being filmed brandishing an assault rifle at a town hall meeting, and was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Russia when he died.
Moscow says Pravy Sektor, the group of which Mr Muzychko was a member, is part of a neo-Nazi “coup” in Kiev that threatens Russian speakers.
Its leader, Dmitro Yarosh, has said he will run for president at the May 25 elections.

 By Roland Oliphant, Simferopol
Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk