Russia Keeps Its Distance After Ukraine Secession Referendums

[eridani]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/world/europe/ukraine.html?_r=1

Russia stopped short on Monday of outright recognition of the contentious referendums organized by separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian-speaking provinces of southeast Ukraine, instead using the results to intensify pressure for a negotiated autonomy for those provinces.

The separatist leader of the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk wasted little time in announcing that his province wanted to join Russia, but the question seemed to be whether Moscow was interested.

Russia avoided any suggestion that it would react to the results with the same alacrity seen after the Crimean Peninsula referendum in March. Within hours of that vote, President Vladimir V. Putin declared that Russia was annexing Crimea, part of southern Ukraine that had once been part of Russia.

In One Eastern City, Ukrainians Find Battle Hits Too Close to HomeMAY 12, 2014 Ukraine Vote on Separation Held in ChaosMAY 11, 2014 Russia Revisits Its History to Nail Down Its FutureMAY 11, 2014 Amid Much Uncertainty, Separatists Prepare for Voting in Eastern UkraineMAY 10, 2014 This time, the Kremlin issued a statement saying only that it “respects the will of the population of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” and that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue between representatives of the easterners and the national government in Kiev.


Secret Cable Reveals Russia Warned US in 2008 Meddling in Ukraine Could Split Country

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/23647-secret-cable-reveals-russia-warned-us-in-2008-meddling-in-ukraine-could-split-country

A secret cable released by Wikileaks on Tuesday revealed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Washington as far back as 2008 that US-EU-NATO meddling in Ukraine could split the country in two.

"Following a muted first reaction to Ukraine's intent to seek a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Bucharest summit (ref A), Foreign Minister Lavrov and other senior officials have reiterated strong opposition, stressing that Russia would view further eastward expansion as a potential military threat," said the 2008 cable classified by William Burns, than US Ambassador to Moscow and currently the US Deputy Secretary of State.

“NATO enlargement, particularly to Ukraine, remains ‘an emotional and neuralgic’ issue for Russia, but strategic policy considerations also underlie strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia. In Ukraine, these include fears that the issue could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether to intervene,” the cable said.

The Russian foreign minister also emphasized that Moscow was convinced that the alliance’s enlargement was not based on security reasons, but instead was a legacy of the Cold War. Moreover, he warned, joining NATO was unlikely to strengthen democratic governments.

"Russia understood that NATO was in search of a new mission, but there was a growing tendency for new members to do and say whatever they wanted simply because they were under the NATO umbrella – e.g. attempts of some new member countries to 'rewrite history and glorify fascists,'" the cable said.

[reformist2]

1. These provinces will be huge leverage for Russia to flip Ukraine back into their fold.

I don't see our puppets in Ukraine sticking around much longer.