August 29, 2014

This morning, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen charged Russia with a “blatant violation” of Ukrainian sovereignty. The statement was given by Rasmussen at a news conference held after an emergency meeting of NATO envoys. The meeting, held in Brussels, was called to discuss the deepening military crisis created by Russian military intervention on the side of pro-Russian separatists in southeastern Ukraine.

Novoazovsk lies on the Sea of Azov, east of Mariupol, at the southeastern tip of Ukraine (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

According to multiple news services, a combined force of Russian and separatist troops seized the coastal town of Novoazovsk yesterday, opening a new southern front. Leaders from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and other European countries expressed outrage at the reports and demanded an explanation from Russia. The new front relieves pressure on the separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk farther north. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military, supported by its Western allies, had made progress in ousting pro-Russian forces from those cities and surrounding areas. Novoazovsk, a port city on the Sea of Azov, lies on the southeastern tip of Ukraine along the border with Russia. The city sits along a road linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in March.

NATO Brigadier General Niko Tak yesterday told the BBC that there had been a “significant escalation in the level and sophistication of Russia’s military interference in Ukraine” over the past two weeks.” Tak said NATO had detected “large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defence systems, artillery, tanks, and armoured personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. To back up its claims, NATO produced satellite images with a news release, explaining, “The images, captured in late August, depict Russian self-propelled artillery units moving in a convoy through the Ukrainian countryside and then preparing for action by establishing firing positions in the area of Krasnodon, Ukraine… .”

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, stated this morning that the nation was revisiting it’s decision on joining NATO. Yatsenyuk was sending a bill to parliament requesting that Ukraine’s non-aligned status be cancelled, which would allow the country to join the Western military alliance.

April 16, 2014

NATO announced today that it is reinforcing its defenses in the Baltic States and central Europe. In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that in the face of the current crisis in Ukraine, NATO is putting “more planes in the air, mores ships on the water, more readiness on the land.” The announcement came as Ukraine forces are moving into eastern Ukraine to retake control of the region and as Russia has massed 40,000 troops along its border with Ukraine.

Secretary Rasmussen called on Russia to make clear it did not “support the violent actions of well-armed militias or pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.” In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by telephoning  United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Putin demanded “clear condemnation from the United Nations and the international community of the anti-constitutional actions” taken by the interim Ukrainian government by launching a military campaign against pro-Russian separatists in the east.”

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)