The Scotsman cartoon: Putin’s strongarm tactics
THE US secretary of state said yesterday that America and its allies are ready to step up measures to “isolate Russia politically, diplomatically and economically” unless Moscow orders its troops in Crimea back to their barracks.
During a visit to Kiev, John Kerry praised the “restraint” of Ukraine’s fledgling government in the face of blatant military provocation by Russia.
After talks with Ukraine’s interim president Olexander Turchynov and prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Mr Kerry said: “I think that it is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further. Russia has talked about Russian-speaking minority citizens who are under siege. They’re not. It is not appropriate to invade a country and dictate what you want to achieve at the end of the barrel of a gun. It is not 21st-century behaviour.”
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