Putin keeps open option of force in Ukraine

— Russian soldiers deployed in Crimea fired warning shots as unarmed Ukrainian soldiers demanded to return to their positions and conduct joint patrols.

— Russia successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, although the test had been scheduled well in advance and the United States said it had been previously notified.

— Global markets rebounded on hopes that the crisis might be easing.

News services

TWO VIEWS

“There can be only one assessment of what happened in Kiev, in Ukraine in general. This was an anti-constitutional coup and the armed seizure of power.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin

“It is not appropriate to invade a country and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve. That is not 21st century, G-8, major-nation behavior.”

Secretary of State John Kerry

Stepping back from the brink of war, Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, saying Russia has no intention “to fight the Ukrainian people” but reserved the right to use force.

As the Russian president held court in his personal residence, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev’s fledgling government and urged Putin to stand down.

“It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun, dictate what you are trying to achieve,” Kerry said. “That is not 21st-century, G-8, major-nation behavior.”

Kerry brought a $1 billion aid package to Ukraine, which is fighting to fend off bankruptcy.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said Russia had violated international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.

“I know President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think that’s fooling anybody,” Obama said.

Although nerves remained on edge in the Crimean Peninsula, with Russian troops firing warning shots to ward off Ukrainian soldiers, global markets jumped higher on tentative signals that the Kremlin was not seeking to escalate the conflict.

Putin made his first public comments since the Ukrainian president fled a week and a half ago. It was a signature Putin performance, filled with earthy language, macho swagger and sarcastic jibes, accusing the West of promoting an “unconstitutional coup” in Ukraine.

But the overall message appeared to be one of de-escalation. “It seems to me (Ukraine) is gradually stabilizing,” Putin said. “We have no enemies in Ukraine. Ukraine is a friendly state.”

Still, he tempered those comments by warning that Russia was willing to use “all means at our disposal” to protect ethnic Russians in the country.

Significantly, Russia agreed to a NATO request to hold a special meeting to discuss Ukraine today in Brussels, opening up a possible diplomatic channel. At the same time, the U.S. and 14 other nations formed a military observer mission to monitor the tense Crimea region.

While the threat of military confrontation retreated somewhat, both sides ramped up economic feuding. Russia hit its nearly broke neighbor with a termination of discounts on natural gas, while the U.S. announced a $1 billion aid package in energy subsidies to Ukraine.

“We are going to do our best. We are going to try very hard,” Kerry said upon arriving in Kiev. “We hope Russia will respect the election that you are going to have.”

Kerry also made a pointed distinction between the Ukrainian government and Putin’s.

“The contrast really could not be clearer: determined Ukrainians demonstrating strength through unity, and the Russian government out of excuses, hiding its hand behind falsehoods, intimidation and provocations. In the hearts of Ukrainians and the eyes of the world, there is nothing strong about what Russia is doing.”

World markets, which slumped the previous day, clawed back a large chunk of their losses on signs that Russia was backpedaling. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.4 percent.

“Confidence in equity markets has been restored as the standoff between Ukraine and Russia is no longer on red alert,” said David Madden, market analyst at IG.

Russia took over the strategic Crimean Peninsula on Saturday. Two Ukrainian warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, blocked from leaving by Russian ships.

The new Ukrainian leadership in Kiev, which Putin does not recognize, has accused Moscow of a military invasion in Crimea, which the Russian leader denied.

“Those unknown people without insignia who have seized administrative buildings and airports … what we are seeing is a kind of velvet invasion,” said Russian military analyst Alexander Golts.

The territory’s enduring volatility was put in stark relief Tuesday morning: Russian troops, who had taken control of the Belbek air base, fired warning shots into the air as some 300 Ukrainian soldiers, who previously manned the airfield, demanded their jobs back.

As the Ukrainians marched unarmed toward the base, about a dozen Russian soldiers told them not to approach, then fired several shots into the air and said they would shoot the Ukrainians if they continued toward them.

The Ukrainian troops vowed to hold whatever ground they had left on the Belbek base.

“We are worried, but we will not give up our base,” said Capt. Nikolai Syomko, an air force radio electrician holding an AK-47.

Amid the tensions, the Russian military test-fired a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile. Fired from a launch pad in southern Russia, it hit a designated target on a range leased by Russia from Kazakhstan.

Ukraine’s prime minister expressed hope that a negotiated solution could be found. Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a news conference that both governments were gradually beginning to talk again.

“We hope that Russia will understand its responsibility in destabilizing the security situation in Europe, that Russia will realize that Ukraine is an independent state and that Russian troops will leave the territory of Ukraine,” he said.