Details of sanctions against Russia to be finalized in London

In order to press the Russian government to withdraw its forces in Crimea, today the western officers are meeting in London to discuss the appropriate sanctions. Asset freezing and travel bans would be the sanctions.

On Monday, unidentified men (10) fired warning shots, when they were moving into a Ukrainian naval base. These kinds of circumstances, made the whole situation even more stressful.

The White House gave a strong declaration where Russia would get out of the G8 group. Barack Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said: "It is hard to see the G8 [summit] happening", in Sochi in June. The White house, also gave its opinion about the referendum scheduled for Sunday in Crimea. They said that the result of the referendum won’t be accepted by the US and their international allies.

A rally in Moscow in support of Vladimir 

Putin's stance on Crimea.

The Sunday, the course of the Ukrainian Crisis will take a dramatic turn. The result could enable Vladimir Putin to increase the presence of Russian troops in Crimea. That´s why the next Monday European foreign ministers will take the final decisions about the sanctions for Russia.

The NATO announced that it will deploy a reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania, in order to monitor the crisis. This aircraft will only use the air territory of alliance countries, said one NATO officer.

As the G8 summit is very likely to be cancelled or hosted in a different country, it would effectively mean that Putin had been thrown out of the powerful leaders group.

Russian Gas Pipelines in Europe

There´s a constant doubt if Germany and Great Britain are supporting the US initiative against Russia´s actions, due to their dependence (and whole Europe dependence) of the gas coming from Russia. Declarations from Moscow said that Russia could cut the supply of gas in Europe as a response of the sanctions. Reserves of gas in the pipelines seem to be only solution.

Putin, Stop!

Any move to starve Europe of gas would by a "lose-lose situation for everyone, most particularly for Russia. “Russia has a substantial financial interest in maintaining those exports," Carney said.


Comment

I agree with all the sanctions that the other countries of the G7 group are going to take against Russian government. It´s the only nonviolent way of pressing Russia to take out their troops from the Crimean peninsula. With the asset freezing and travel bans, may be the Russian people could demand for the withdrawal of the Russian Army.

I personally believe that what´s is doing Russia is a complete violation of the Ukraine’s sovereignty. They should respect them, and let them manage this situation. Besides, Russia´s interest in Crimea is not to find a solution for this conflict, but to take control of the Crimean peninsula, which would be an excellent strategic location, due to their geographical borders.

The NATO aircraft, I think that would contribute to increase the tension. There have to be other ways to monitor the conflict, but in my opinion, these kinds of aircrafts, could be misunderstood by the Russians and could be the excuse to begin a worse conflict.

Pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists argue

during a rally in Sevastopol on 9 March

A Ukrainian soldier patrols a checkpoint near the

village of Stavki, close to a Crimea region border.

Although I don’t want that Ukraine lost Crimea, the final word rests in the hands of the Crimea population. Let´s remember that Crimea is part of Ukraine, but it´s a region with more autonomy than the rest of regions of Ukraine, besides, it´s a region highly influenced by the Russian culture. That´s why this Sunday in the referendum, there are a lot of chances that Ukraine lose this peninsula. The question is, ¿would Crimea become in an autonomous state or would it become part of Russia? And depending from the result of this question, the international field could become really stressful.


And for the European leaders, I think that they shouldn’t hesitate and they should take a more serious involvement in this crisis. I mean, if they are going to support US initiative, they begin to save some reserves of gas, otherwise they would be in troubles. And I also think, that they shouldn´t be desperate, Russia also needs European buyers for its gas, it could be even worse for them. So I think that if this scenario happens, it wouldn’t last too much.

I hope that this conflict ends in a non-violent way.

Bibliography

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/western-officials-london-finalise-sanctions-russia