Russia slams U.N. vote on Crimea referendum
By Laura Smith-Spark
40,000 Russian troops on Ukraine border
Russia can ease tensions with Ukraine if it moves its troops away from the Ukrainian border and begins direct talks with the Kiev government, President Obama said in an interview aired Friday by CBS News.
Russia on Friday dismissed a U.N. General Assembly resolution that branded Crimea's secession referendum invalid, saying it was "counterproductive."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.N. vote -- which followed Moscow's formal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last week on the basis of the hastily called referendum -- would do nothing to help resolve the situation.
"The counterproductive initiative with the General Assembly's resolution only complicates efforts to stabilize the internal political crisis in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
The U.N. vote, held Thursday, saw 100 countries back the nonbinding resolution, with 11 opposed and 58 abstaining.
Russia's actions in Ukraine have been widely condemned by the West and prompted concern in Kiev and other former Soviet states that further incursions may follow.
On Friday, Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych stepped into the fray with a call for Ukrainians to demand a referendum on the future status of each region in the country, according to Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass.
"As the President whose thoughts and heart are together with you, I call on each reasonable citizen of Ukraine -- don't let the impostors use you! Demand a referendum on the determination of the status of each region within Ukraine," Yanukovych said, in what the news agency said was an address to the Ukrainian people.
He said that a referendum for all the regions was the only way to stabilize the country, and that the early presidential elections planned for May will not be fair or constitutional.
Yanukovych also said he wished to be removed from his post as chairman of the Party of the Regions.
Yanukovych resurfaced in Russia days after leaving Ukraine after street protests, against his decision to turn away from a European Union trade deal in favor of closer ties with Moscow, turned bloody.
He and Russia say he is still the legitimate leader of Ukraine, but the West disagrees. The interim government in Kiev was voted in by a large majority in parliament, including members of Yanukovych's own party.
Russian troops on Ukraine's border
Russia seized control of Crimea amid the political upheaval that followed Yanukovych's ouster -- a step cemented by the controversial referendum and a new treaty that absorbed the Black Sea peninsula into the Russian Federation.
Now, observers in the West fear Moscow may make incursions into eastern Ukraine, where there are strong ties to Russia, despite the threat of deeper EU and U.S. sanctions.
Adding to tensions, Russia now may have as many as 40,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, two U.S. officials told CNN on Thursday. The officials said that this estimate was largely based on satellite imagery and that a firm number is difficult to assess.
However, a spokesman for Ukraine's Council of National Security and Defense, Yarema Dukh, told CNN his government estimates 88,000 Russian troops are at the Ukrainian border.
U.S. officials said they believe the higher estimates may reflect Russian troops on alert farther to the east.
Russia has said its troops are carrying out snap military exercises in the region.
International bailout
In another development Thursday, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was released from prison last month, said she intends to run for president in elections on May 25.
After more than two years in prison, she was released in February after the ouster of her archrival, Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko said she intended to ask delegates at her Batkivshchyna Party congress on Saturday to nominate her as a presidential candidate.
Ukraine's elections are taking place against a backdrop of poor economic conditions, Moscow's annexation of Crimea and rumblings of discontent in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern regions.
Tymoshenko's announcement came as the International Monetary Fund announced a $14 billion to $18 billion bailout for Ukraine to avoid bankruptcy. The bailout is tied to painful reforms as the country faces an escalating standoff with Russia.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday praised the loan agreement between the IMF and Ukraine, and said the United States will do its part to help, too.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine, along with sanctions against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved Ukraine loan guarantees and is now voting on sanctions.
A large majority of Crimeans voted in favor of leaving Ukraine for Russia in the referendum held 12 days ago. It was dismissed by the interim government in Kiev and the West as illegitimate.
The Black Sea peninsula, which has a majority ethnic Russian population, was part of Russia until 1954 and has long historical and cultural ties to the country.
Source : CNN