© Reuters/Alex KuzminThe self-proclaimed president of Ukraine Aleksandr Turchinov
The self-imposed president of Ukraine Aleksandr Turchinov will be considered a "war criminal" in case he uses military force against the population of south-eastern part of Ukraine, Russia's lower house Speaker Sergey Naryshkin reportedly warned.
Naryshkin held a phone conversation with Aleksandr Turchinov from the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, who is leading a self-proclaimed government in Kiev. During the conversation Naryshkin reportedly warned Turchinov against deploying forces against Ukrainians resisting Kiev, a source told RIA Novosti.
The Ukrainian side has stated that it has no plans to resort to use of force against citizens.
Russia's Federation Council unanimously approved on Saturday President Vladimir Putin's request to use Russian military forces in Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians following a request from authorities in Crimea.
Turchinov has ordered a full mobilization of Ukraine's armed forces and ordered to boost security at nuclear power plants, airports and other sites citing threat of
"potential aggression
" from Russia.
It is unlikely that the interim government in Kiev will send troops to Crimea, believes political commentator Aleksandr Nekrasov, but even their rhetoric is enough to escalate tensions.
"Ever since they have seized power in Kiev, I think they were getting desperate by the day because they have suddenly realized that they are not getting that money which they hoped to get at once," Nekrasov told
RT. "And this desperation showed the fact that they have repeated all those warnings about Russian invasion, Russian aggression and so on and so forth and now we see them desperate enough to make all sorts of provocative statements and basically implying that the danger of war is rising."
Comment: Wow, just wow. Kerry, you remember him from such hits as: John Kerry: The Ugly American and Code Pink protesters hold faux-bloody hands behind Kerry at house Syria hearing. This is the same guy that was pushing for military action in Syria.
This is all just B.S. posturing. If anything, it shows how worried they are. Diplomatic solution? Kerry and the Obama administration's track record is a shoot first, ask questions and we'll shoot again type of game. So why are there such sour grapes over Russia right now? It's like poker, when you have the nuts, you don't talk smack. America is so used to killing primitive natives and civilians that the prospect of actually having to duke it out with someone ( Russia ) who can give as well as it gets scares the beejeezus out of 'em.