West Condemns Russian Annexation of Crimea as Britain Halts Arms Exports to Moscow
Britain warned Tuesday that the West and Russia faced a changed relationship in the coming years, as London suspended all bilateral military cooperation and halted arms exports to Russia.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said President Vladimir Putin had chosen the "route of isolation" by signing a treaty annexing Crimea just two days after a hastily arranged referendum on the breakaway peninsula.
"We should be ready to contemplate a new state of relations between Russia and the West in the coming years that is different from the last 20 years," Hague told parliament.
"This is a relationship that would be one in which institutions such as G8 are working without Russia, and military cooperation and defense exports are permanently curtailed, in which decisions are accelerated to reduce European dependence on Russian energy exports."
Hague said Britain was scaling back military ties with Russia, only recently revived after relations between the two countries were plunged into deep freeze by the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
"We have suspended all such (military) cooperation," Hague said, listing a technical military cooperation agreement and joint naval exercises with Russia, France, Britain and the United States as some of the activities put on hold.
Britain was also suspending all existing licenses for the export of arms to Russia, because it fears the equipment could be used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
Hague said Britain encouraged other EU states to take similar action.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Russia's absorption of Crimea.
"The so-called referendum breached international law, the declaration of independence which the Russian president accepted yesterday was against international law, and the absorption into the Russian Federation is, in our firm opinion, also against international law," she said.
Merkel stressed that international organizations including the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe shared that view.
Putin earlier on Tuesday signed a treaty making Crimea part of Russia, in a historic redrawing of Russia's borders, while shrugging off strong international objections.
The German chancellor stressed that amid the East-West standoff "we will... continue to bank on dialogue, on talks".
"We want a good development especially in Ukraine, including proper preparations for the elections," she said. "But the differences of opinion concerning the Crimea will remain."
French President Francois Hollande called for a "strong and coordinated" EU response to Russia's annexation of Crimea, which he said Paris did not recognize.
"The next European Council on March 20 and 21 must provide the opportunity for a strong and coordinated European response to the new step that has just been taken," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France could suspend its controversial sale of warships to Russia in the event of sanctions against Russia being escalated over Moscow's action in Ukraine.
He stated the billion euro ($1.4 billion) contract, which supports 1,000 French jobs, would only be put on the line if other European Union governments were also prepared to agree to action which could be damaging to their own interests.
Fabius's comments appeared to be specifically directed at Britain. In an interview on Monday evening he said any move on the Mistral warships would have to be accompanied by action against London-based Russian oligarchs, which could hurt Britain's financial sector and have implications for the broader economy.
The remarks underlined the problems involved in EU governments going beyond the limited visa bans and asset freezes they have approved so far.
Referring to a 2011 contract to provide two Mistral helicopter assault ships, Fabius said: "What is being envisaged is the suspension of these contracts but ... that would only be in the event of us moving to a third level of sanctions and we are not there yet."
The foreign minister said he hoped such a move would not be necessary but acknowledged it could be a real possibility.
"There is no reason why it should only be France who takes this kind of action," he told Europe 1 radio.
"It can only be envisaged in the framework of a general suspension involving other European countries.
"On the one hand we cannot envisage supplying Russia indefinitely with arms given the way it has behaved, on the other hand there is the reality of jobs and the economy."
On Monday, talking to TF1 television, Fabius explicitly said France would expect Britain to "do the equivalent with the assets of Russian oligarchs in London. Sanctions have to touch everyone."
Fabius confirmed that he and France's defense minister had canceled a visit to Moscow that had been scheduled for Tuesday, saying it would have been inappropriate on a day when Vladimir Putin was enshrining in law the annexation of Crimea.
But he confirmed that Putin's invitation to the June 6 commemorations of D-Day had not been rescinded.
French officials were forced to clarify comments made by Fabius which could have been interpreted as meaning Russia had been expelled from the G8 group of leading economies.
That option remains under review but no decision has been taken, they said.
The other seven countries in the G8 agreed last week to suspend preparations for a scheduled summit in Sochi, Russia, in June in protest over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/123048 |