At UN, US demands Russia pull back in Ukraine
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine on Saturday as Kiev urged the UN Security Council to take immediate action to stop the crisis.
As Russian lawmakers endorsed military action in Ukraine and Kiev warned Russian troops were pouring into Crimea, diplomats scrambled the 15-member Council for emergency talks in New York.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, branded Russia's parliamentary approval "as dangerous as it is destabilizing" and accused Moscow of acting without legal basis.
"The message is pull back your forces. Let us engage in political dialogue, engage with the Ukrainian government which is reaching out to you for that dialogue," Power said.
"The occupation, the military presence in Crimea is a violation of international law and we will need to allow cooler heads to prevail and to engage a peaceful way out of this crisis."
Power called for monitors from the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to be deployed to Ukraine and backed a separate international mediation mission to Crimea.
"Military force will never be the answer to this crisis," she said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone, saying he was "gravely concerned" by recent events that compromised Ukrainian sovereignty.
"It is crucial to restore calm and proceed to an immediate de-escalation of the situation," Ban said, calling on Putin to engage urgently in direct dialogue with authorities in Kiev.
"Cool heads must prevail."
- Ukraine's emotional appeal -
The open session of the Council only got underway after two hours of procedural wrangling on whether to allow the cameras in or not. It then began with an emotional appeal from Kiev.
"We call on the Security Council now to do everything possible to stop aggression of the Russian Federation to Ukraine. There is still a chance," Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said.
He accused Moscow of aggression against Ukraine and claimed that more Russian troops were arriving by the hour.
Ukraine also demanded the deployment of international monitors and said Russia had "brutally violated the basic principles of the charter of the United Nations."
"We urge all member states of the United Nations to demonstrate solidarity with the Ukrainian nation to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country," Sergeyev added.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Igor Tenyukh on Saturday accused Russia of sending 6,000 additional troops into Crimea.
Dozens of pro-Russian armed men in full combat gear patrolled outside the seat of power in Crimea's capital Simferopol.
Similar gunmen seized the city's parliament and government buildings on Thursday and took control of its airport and a nearby military base on Friday.
"We see no justification for the Russian military action in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine," British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters after the Council meeting in New York.
"We have heard from them no justification for those activities."
In the open session, Russia's envoy criticized Western support for the protesters that ousted Russian-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych and said Putin had not yet decided to use force.
"I repeat, as Mr (Deputy Secretary-General Jan) Eliason said quite correctly, we need cooler heads to prevail," ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
The UN envoy to Ukraine, Robert Serry, said he was flying to Geneva and ruled out a visit to the Crimea region for logistical reasons as requested by Ban following emergency talks on Friday.
He now plans to brief Ban and together discuss the "next steps."
