Europe
Russian Troops Seize Gas Plant Beyond Crimean Border, Ukraine Says
SIMFEROPOL,
Ukraine — Tensions mounted on the eve of a secession referendum here in
Crimea as helicopter-borne Russian forces made a provocative incursion
just beyond the peninsula’s regional border to seize a natural gas terminal while American and European officials prepared sanctions to impose on Moscow as early as Monday.
The
military operation by at least 80 troops landing on a slender sand bar
just across Crimea’s northeast border seemed part of a broader effort to
strengthen control over the peninsula before a vote Sunday on whether
its majority Russian-speaking population wants to demand greater
autonomy from Ukraine or break completely and join Russia.
Whatever its tactical goals, it sent a defiant message to the United
States and Europe and underscored that a diplomatic resolution to
Russia’s recent takeover of Crimea remains elusive.
The
raid came as American and European diplomats essentially forced Russia
to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring the
Sunday referendum illegal. Western diplomats hoped the result would
reinforce Russia’s growing international isolation. Russia cast the only
vote against the resolution; even China, its traditional ally on the
Council, did not vote with Moscow but abstained, an indication of its
unease with Russia’s violation of another country’s sovereignty.
200 Miles
RUSSIA
Kiev
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Donetsk
KHERSON
PROVINCE
DETAIL
UKRAINE
Sea of Azov
Strelkovoye
Arabatskaya Spit
CRIMEAN
PENINSULA
Kerch
Simferopol
RUSSIA
Sevastopol
Black Sea
50 Miles
American
and European officials worked through the day readying lists of
Russians to penalize after the referendum, including possibly vital
members of President Vladimir V. Putin’s inner circle. Among the
Russians under consideration for Western sanctions, according to
officials, are Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister; Aleksandr V.
Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service; Nikolai P.
Patrushev, the secretary of the security council; Sergei B. Ivanov and
Vladislav Surkov, two of Mr. Putin’s closest and most powerful advisers;
Dmitri O. Rogozin, a deputy prime minister; Aleksei Miller, the chief
executive of Gazprom, the state energy giant; and Igor Sechin, head of
the oil company Rosneft.
The
sanctions would ban the targets from traveling to Europe or the United
States and freeze any assets they had in either place. Western officials
said they do not plan to sanction Mr. Putin himself, at least at this
point, because he is a head of state, nor do they intend to target
Sergey V. Lavrov, the foreign minister, because he needs to travel if
there are any future diplomatic talks.
Moreover,
American and European officials said President Obama and his European
counterparts may not start with the list of Putin confidants in whatever
sanctions are imposed immediately after the referendum, so as to have
the means to further escalate their response should Russia continue to
press its seizure of Ukrainian territory. Instead, they may start with
lower-level officials, military leaders, business tycoons or
parliamentarians.
Mr.
Obama’s cabinet secretaries and top advisers huddled in the White House
on Saturday to discuss their strategy, joined by Secretary of State
John Kerry, who landed in Washington after a fruitless last-ditch
diplomatic trip to talk with Mr. Lavrov in London.
The
degree of sanctions and the exact timing may depend on how Moscow
reacts immediately after the referendum, which is almost universally
expected to approve seceding from Ukraine and becoming part of Russia,
officials said. If Mr. Putin moves promptly to initiate annexation, that
would trigger immediate action, but if he holds back and leaves room
for talks, Washington and Brussels may defer.
Russia
left little impression of backing down on Saturday. Russian forces made
a muscular show of added strength here in Simferopol, the regional
capital, stationing armed personnel carriers in at least two locations
in the city center and parking two large troop carriers outside the
headquarters of the election commission.
The
more provocative move, however, was the seizure of the gas terminal
near a town called Strelkovoye, which drew new threats of a military
response from the Ukrainian government. Until now, it has refrained from
responding in force to Russian actions, but it sent troops Saturday to
surround the gas terminal, though there were no immediate indications of
any shots being fired, according to a Ukrainian news service quoting
local police.
In
Kiev, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine “reserves
the right to use all necessary measures” to stop what it called “the
military invasion by Russia.”
The
White House suggested the move only increased the likelihood of
sanctions. “We remain concerned about any attempt by Russia to increase
tensions or threaten the Ukrainian people, and as we have long said if
Russia continues to take escalatory steps, there will be consequences,”
said Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokeswoman.
The
pro-Russian government in Crimea issued a statement saying its
“self-defense” forces had seized the gas terminal because Ukraine had
turned off the supply of fuel, leaving homes, hospitals and schools
without heat or electricity. The government also said that it found the
terminal rigged with explosives “with the goal of totally destroying
it,” which would cut off gas to eastern cities in Crimea.
Those
claims, carried by the Interfax news service, were impossible to verify
independently. Power in some parts of Crimea appeared to be disrupted
in recent days, although it was possible that was because of power lines
downed by high winds.
Although
the Crimean government sought to take responsibility for the operation,
there was little doubt that it was conducted by Russian forces given
the involvement of helicopters and other sophisticated equipment.
The
move appeared to fit the pattern of deployment on Crimea. The Ukrainian
Unian news agency cited local residents saying soldiers without
identifying insignia had landed near the gas terminal in helicopters
with Russia’s red-star tail art.
The
showdown at the United Nations was dramatic in its own way. The Russian
ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, preceded his veto by saying that Moscow
would respect the results of Sunday’s referendum, but he did not say
what it would do afterward. He described the referendum as an
“extraordinary measure,” expressing the Crimean people’s right to
self-determination, made necessary by what he called an “illegal coup
carried out by radicals” in Ukraine, referring to the street protests
that led to the ouster of President Viktor F. Yanukovych, a Russian
ally.
No
one had expected the Security Council resolution to pass given Russia’s
veto, but Western officials crafted the language to persuade China not
to side with Moscow. China is sensitive about talk of secession since it
has its own worries about its own restive regions, including Tibet.
“China
has always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all
states,” said Liu Jieyi, the Chinese ambassador, explaining his
abstention before adding a jab at the West: “At the same time, we have
noticed foreign interference is also an important reason leading to
violent clashes on the streets of Ukraine.”
The
officials meeting in Washington and Europe were creating lists based on
categories of Russians — government officials, military officers,
lawmakers, businessmen and the like. In considering sanctions, they said
they were focused on which categories to start with to show resolve and
possibly influence Mr. Putin while leaving some on the table to use if
he refuses to defuse the crisis.
They
saw three scenarios for Monday and beyond: Mr. Putin does not act; he
moves to begin the legal processes of annexation; or, in the worst case,
he moves to seize parts of eastern Ukraine. While Europeans were
initially more reluctant to impose strong measures, officials said their
resolve hardened on Thursday when Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out
strongly on Mr. Putin’s actions. They added that there is little
disagreement at this point between the United States and Europe on the
larger strategy.
Ukrainian
officials have been worried about an escalation of Russian military
actions, reporting shifting tanks and troops in the north of Crimea,
near the Ukrainian mainland. A spokesman in Crimea, Vladislav Seleznyov,
said a column of more than 100 military vehicles was seen on a highway.
Elsewhere
on the peninsula, he said, troops and trucks towing artillery pieces
moved from Kerch, a city near the strait of the same name separating
Crimea from Russia, to the north, and a cargo train carried armored
vehicles from the south to the north of the region.
In
one episode on Saturday night, masked gunmen stormed into the Hotel
Moskva where foreign journalists are staying. The heavily armed men,
many in plainclothes, searched some rooms. Some journalists said they
were searched for weapons, while others said they had passports checked
and others said their flash drives had been taken.
Crimean officials arriving on the scene quickly insisted it was nothing more than a training exercise.
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