G7 LEADERS MEET IN THE NETHERLANDS AS RUSSIA TIGHTENS GRIP ON CRIMEA
The Hague, The Netherlands, 23 Jumadil Awwal 1435/24 March 2014 (MINA) – World leaders are to meet for a G7 summit to discuss a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, after NATO’s top military commander warned Russian troops in the region posed a wider threat to other post-Soviet states.
Monday’s talks in the Netherlands, on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit, will not involve Russia, which had been part of the group since 1998, Aljazeera and international news agencies quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Sunday evening.
The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US will discuss the crisis as Russian troops continue to tighten their grip on Crimea by taking over a total of 189 sites occupied by the Ukraine military.
NATO’s top military commander said on Sunday that Russia had amassed a force on Ukraine’s eastern border large enough to pose a threat to other post-Soviet republics.
“The force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizeable and very, very ready,” General Philip Breedlove, the supreme allied commander in Europe, said.
“There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transnistria if the decision was made to do that and that is very worrisome.”
The EU and the US has imposed a number of visa bans and asset freezes on some members of the inner circle of the russian president, Vladimir Putin, and are considering further measures.
The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said on Sunday that the EU was united in its readiness to impose economic sanctions should the crisis escalate.
“Russia has a lot more to lose in the medium term than the West, than Europe or the United States,” he said, adding that the aim was to uphold international law and it was “of secondary importance whether there is an economic or financial cost”.
Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s defence minister, said on Sunday that “Russian armed forces do not undertake any undeclared military activity that would threaten the security of neighbouring countries”.
One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and two others wounded since Russian forces started seizing control of military facilities in Crimea last week.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said most of its bases in Crimea were now occupied by Russian troops and flew Russia’s tricolour flag.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, ordered the Black Sea Fleet commander on Friday to ensure Ukrainian servicemen were allowed to leave for the mainland Ukraine.
According to the ministry, as of March 21, fewer than 2,000 of its 18,000 troops in Crimea had expressed a wish to do so. (T/E01/IR)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
