DEVELOPMENTS
— House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that U.S. allies are looking for America to lead, and that the 150 troops now in Poland with contingents planned for three other European countries is a step in the right direction. The first 150 paratroopers’ arrival Wednesday for joint exercises in Poland is considered a sign of the Obama administration’s commitment to security in Europe, with tensions growing over the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. “They’re begging us to lead, and they want us to lead,” Boehner told a Middletown, Ohio, Rotary Club luncheon. “And I have to say I was pleased with the news late yesterday that the president is in fact sending … troops to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.”
— President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called the Internet a CIA project and made comments about Russia’s biggest search engine Yandex, sending the company’s shares plummeting. Russia’s parliament this week passed a law requiring social media websites to keep their servers in Russia and save all information about their users for at least half a year.
— American journalist Simon Ostrovsky of Vice News, who went missing early Tuesday in Slovyansk, said he had been freed and was heading to Donetsk, the largest city in the region. He did not give details of his seizure or his release.
— Associated Press
Russia announced new military exercises Thursday involving ground and air forces near its border with Ukraine, swiftly responding to a Ukrainian operation to drive pro-Russia insurgents out of occupied buildings in the country’s tumultuous east.
The Ukrainian move, which killed at least two people, brought new threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who denounced it as a “punitive operation.”
“If the Kiev government is using the army against its own people, this is clearly a grave crime,” Putin said.
Putin’s statement and the announcement of new military maneuvers sharpened anxiety over the prospect of a Russian incursion into Ukraine. Russia’s foreign minister warned a day earlier that any attack on Russian citizens or interests in eastern Ukraine would bring a strong response.
Secretary of State John Kerry quickly denounced the Russian actions, and in unusually blunt language warned that unless Moscow took immediate steps to de-escalate the situation, Washington would have no choice but to impose additional sanctions.
“Following today’s threatening movement of Russian troops right up to Ukraine’s border, let me be clear: If Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake,” Kerry said. “The window to change course is closing,”
Accusing Russia of fomenting unrest and separatist sentiment in eastern Ukraine following its annexation of the strategic Crimean Peninsula, Kerry added: “Nobody should doubt Russia’s hand in this.”
“What is happening in eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well-planned and organized, and we assess that it is being carried out at the direction of Russia,” the U.S. secretary of state said.
Ukraine’s acting president accused Russia of backing the separatists in the east and demanded that Moscow stop its intimidation campaign and leave his country alone.
Oleksandr Turchynov said in an address to the nation Thursday that Russia was “coordinating and openly supporting terrorist killers” in eastern Ukraine, where government buildings in at least 10 cities have been seized by pro-Russia gunmen.
Turchynov said Russia must pull back its troops from the Ukrainian border and “stop the constant threats and blackmail.”
His foreign minister, on a visit to Prague, also blasted the Russian decision to start new military maneuvers and said his country would fight any invading troops.
“We will now fight with Russian troops if … they invade Ukraine. Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army are ready to do this,” Andriy Deshchytisa said.
Russia already has tens of thousands of troops stationed in regions along its border with Ukraine. The latest Russian military exercises involve ground troops in the south and the west and the air forces patrolling the border, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Ukraine and Russia reached a deal in Geneva last week to defuse the crisis, but pro-Russian insurgents in the east — and nationalist militants in Kiev — have defied calls for all sides to disarm and to vacate the buildings they are occupying.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow sharply criticized Russia for making “veiled threats” and said Russia should pull its troops back to their barracks.
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