)
The US today slammed Russia for indulging in "false narrative" to justify its "illegal action" in Ukraine, issuing a point-by-point rebuttal of President Vladimir Putin's statements on the crisis.
"As Russia spins a false narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine, the world has not seen such startling Russian fiction since (Fyodor) Dostoyevsky wrote. The formula 'two plus two equals five' is not without its attractions," the US State Department said in a fact sheet titled "President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine".
On Putin's statement that Russian forces in Crimea are only acting to protect Russian military assets and it is "citizens' defense groups" not Russian forces who have seized infrastructure and military facilities in Crimea, the State Department said there is strong evidence to suggest that members of Russian security services are at the heart of the highly organised anti-Ukraine forces in Crimea.
"While these units wear uniforms without insignia, they drive vehicles with Russian military license plates and freely identify themselves as Russian security forces when asked by the international media and the Ukrainian military. Moreover, these individuals are armed with weapons not generally available to civilians," the State Department said.
On Putin's statement that the Russia's actions fall within the scope of the 1997 Friendship Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the US said the 1997 agreement requires Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.
"Russia's military actions in Ukraine, which have given them operational control of Crimea, are in clear violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," it said.
Refuting Putin's claim that the opposition failed to implement the February 21 agreement with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the State Department said the agreement laid out a plan in which the Rada, or Parliament, would pass a bill to return Ukraine to its 2004 Constitution, thus returning the country to a constitutional system centered around its parliament.
"Under the terms of the agreement, Yanukovych was to sign the enacting legislation within 24 hours and bring the crisis to a peaceful conclusion. Yanukovych refused to keep his end of the bargain. Instead, he packed up his home and fled, leaving behind evidence of wide-scale corruption," the State Department said.
"Pro-Russian" forces have reportedly taken de facto control of Crimea, an autonomous peninsula within Ukraine with a Russian ethnic majority, blocking Ukrainian troops in their barracks in the most serious stand-off between the West and Russia since the Cold War.
