The Obama administration is preparing $1 billion aid package in loan guarantees to the interim Ukrainian government following heightened tensions with Russia, after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade the Crimean peninsula over the weekend. President Putin said on Tuesday said that he reserved the right to use force in order to defend ethnic Russians who were living there. Putin added that he did not see an immediate need to invade eastern Ukraine, according to news reports.
"The U.S. and Europe, which have decried Russian military in Crimea, are racing to seal aid to help the new government in Kiev avoid bankruptcy," Bloomberg reported.
"Russia is also staking its own claim, saying Ukraine owes state-controlled energy giant OAO $2 billion. After plunging 11 percent yesterday, Russia's Micex stock index reversed some of those losses and rose 5.3 percent (on Tuesday)," also according to Bloomberg.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev on Tuesday in an offering of support to the new Ukrainian government, in which Russia had recently decried as illegitimate. It has been reported that the Obama administration would work with Congress to approve $1 billion in loan guarantees "to help lessen the impact on Ukrainians of their proposed cuts to energy subsidies."
The U.S. will also send technical experts to the country "to advise its central bank and finance ministry on how to deal with the country's economic challenges and help combat corruption... The US will also train observers for the country's May 25 election to bring the electoral process in line with international standards," as reported in The Guardian.
After days of heightened tension in recent days, following months of protests in Ukraine, which led to the ouster of President Yanukovych, Putin "struck a more conciliatory tone" on Tuesday. The Russian President "ruled out any political future for the deposed leader and said [the Kremlin] would engage with the new administration. Putin said troops stationed in Crimea, where Russia keeps its Black Sea fleet have only been securing their bases," Bloomberg reported.
The Russian president argued it was 'extremists' who orchestrated a coup to remove Yanukovych from power, and argued that Russian speakers in Ukraine's east and south areas had needed protection. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov, said, however, that any kind of military invasion constitutes as an act of war.
Crimea was given to Ukraine in 1954 by Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev, but people who "identify themselves as ethnic Russian comprise 59 percent of [its] population, with 24 percent Ukrainian and 12 percent Tatar," according to 2001 census data.
Russia has 16,000 troops in the Crimea while permitted to have as many as 25,000, according to Vitaly Churkin, who serves as Russia's ambassador to the United Nations. Churkin admonished the West on Monday at the UN Security Council, and accused them for formenting the anti-Yanukovych protests in the past few months, which led to at least 80 deaths.
Russia began its military exercises on Ukraine's eastern border last week, escalating fears by Ukrainians of an imminent invasion. The drills ended Tuesday, with Kremlin saying that it had successfully test-fired an International Ballistic Missile. The Strategic Rocket Forces launched an RS-12M Topol missile from the Astrakhan region near the Caspain Sea, as the dummy warhead hit its target in a proving ground in Kazakhstan, RIA cited Yigor Yegorov.
Daniel Baer, the chief U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), meanwhile, said 15 of its nations, including the U.S., will send a military observer mission to the Ukraine upon its request, The Associated Press reported.
Baer said the mission-team will head to Ukraine as early as Wednesday, with the goal of traveling to Crimea, The AP also reported.
Also, it was reported that the U.S.has been planning to slap Russia with economic sanctions for Russia's invasion of Crimea, which was perceived as a violation of international law.
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