Ukraine parliament appeals to U.N. over Crimea
Ukraine's parliament appealed on Thursday to the United Nations to discuss the occupation by Russian forces of its Crimea peninsula and said it reserved the right to ask individual countries for help in resolving the issue.
In a debate hours before Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk was to address the Security Council in New York, some members called for a U.N. peacekeeping force, though the resolution that was passed did not specify that form of assistance.
In a second vote, the chamber endorsed a document confirming that Ukraine sought deeper integration with the European Union.
A total of 250 members in the 450-seat assembly, which last month removed a Moscow-backed president, endorsed the appeal to the U.N., citing the "flagrant violation by the Russian Federation of the fundamental principles of international law".
Ukraine, the appeal said, reserved the right to ask "any state or regional system of collective security for help in restoring its sovereignty".
"Parliament must ask the U.N. to bring in a peacekeeping contingent," Oles Doniy, an independent member allied with parties favoring integration with Europe, told the chamber. "We cannot compete with Russia on our own."
But with Crimea now firmly in Moscow's hands for more than a week ahead of a referendum this Sunday on joining Russia, the parliament split along political lines.
Pro-European parties voted in favor.
Only two members of ousted president Viktor Yanukovich's Party of Regions voted in favor while others, saying they wanted first to see the outcome of Sunday's plebiscite in Crimea. Communists also abstained.
The appeal made no specific reference to the U.N. Security Council. Pro-European member Borys Tarasyuk, a former foreign minister, said such a move would be pointless as Russia enjoyed veto power in the 15-member Council.
Excerpt from: