Russia’s seizure of Crimea is a threat to peace in Europe and the situation must be “de-escalated”, Nato’s secretary-general said yesterday, but the alliance failed to agree any major steps to rein in Russia during emergency talks in Brussels.
Speaking before chairing a meeting of ambassadors from the 28 Nato member states, known as the North Atlantic Council, Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that Russia’s actions were unacceptable and could destabilise the continent.
“What Russia is doing now in Ukraine violates the principles of the United Nations charter,” Rasmussen told reporters.
“It threatens peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military activities and its threats.”
After the talks, Nato called on Russia to send troops back to bases and refrain from interference elsewhere in Ukraine.
But despite expressing “grave concern”, Nato did not agree any significant measures to apply pressure to Russia, with the West struggling to come up with a forthright response that does not risk pushing the region closer to military conflict.
Rasmussen said only that Russia and Ukraine should submit to international mediation and said Nato members could hold further meetings on the issue, including with Russia. There was no mention of scaling back any cooperation with Moscow.
“Nato allies will continue to support Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future, without outside interference,” Rasmussen said.
Russia must stop its military activities, threats
The stand-off has created the greatest moment of tension between Russia and the West since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an event Russian President Vladimir Putin once called the worst geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.
“I think we must be careful not to give the Russians anything that could rile up pro-Russian sentiment in Crimea,” a senior Nato diplomat said before the meeting.
Despite a 90-minute phone call between President Barack Obama and Putin on Saturday, and other calls to the Kremlin by European leaders, Russia shows no sign of backing away from its de facto occupation of Crimea and influence in east Ukraine.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russia it could face targeted sanctions including visa bans, asset freezes and trade isolation if it did not back down, and said major world powers were ready to isolate Moscow.
EU foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on the crisis today, but are not expected to agree any sanctions.
Instead, several diplomats indicated there would be a push for high-level mediation.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Nato, Ihor Dolhov, expressed some hope that the alliance was taking steps towards resolving tensions with Russia, but gave no details.
Moscow has said that its action is merely to protect the lives of Russian-speaking nationals, and appears to be calculating that the West cannot afford to risk a wider conflagration by taking anything approaching military action.