By Jonathan Rozen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 4 2014 (IPS)

The United States and Russia openly clashed at a Security Council meeting Monday focusing on the ongoing crisis in politically-troubled Ukraine.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, sought to “explain, as fully as possible, [the Russian] position on the current situation in Ukraine.”
Churkin defined the current situation as a “crisis provoked by a state coup in Kiev,” which seeks to “trample the basic rights and freedoms of people,” specifically Russian speakers in southeast Ukraine, notably Crimea.

The Russian envoy also brandished a document, written by former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, appealing to Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to intervene militarily in Ukraine in order to save it from “chaos and anarchy.”

Following Churkin’s statement, the remaining 14 members of the Security Council stated their support for Ukraine’s right to independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the promotion of a political solution through dialogue and within a legal framework.

While China did not identify Russia as the aggressor in the same manner as other nations, it did condemn the violence in Ukraine.

“The central issue is whether the recent change in government in Ukraine constitutes a danger to Russia’s legitimate interests, of such a nature and extent that Russia is justified in intervening militarily in Ukraine,” Ambassador Samantha Power, the Permanent Representative of the United States, told delegates.

“The answer, of course, is no.”
France, UK and the US, three veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, stressed the absence of evidence for the Russian claim of security risks facing Russian-speaking peoples in Ukraine, and called for the return of Russian forces to their bases and to their permitted numbers.

The other two permanent members are Russia and China.

Monday’s meeting followed a similar emergency meeting of the Council which took place Saturday.

Earlier in the day, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the importance of de-escalating the situation.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson is currently in Kiev to assess the situation and hold consultations with the interim President and acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine.

Ukraine, particularly the capital, Kiev, has been wrought with intense and increasingly violent protests since late November, when the Ukrainian president decided, under heavy Russian pressure, not to sign a trade and cooperation agreement that would have increased Ukrainian integration into the European Union (EU) at the expense of economic cooperation with Russia.

Experts have indicated that the rising tensions between the United States and Russia may jeopardise cooperation on Syria, Iran and North Korea.