Itar-Tass
March 2, 2014
North Atlantic Council, NATO-Ukraine commission to meet urgently in Brussels
BRUSSELS: The North Atlantic Council and the NATO-Ukraine Commission will have urgent meetings on the situation in the republic here on Sunday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
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Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 2, 2014
Ukraine Appeals to NATO for Assistance
KIEV: Ukraine appealed for assistance from NATO on Saturday, asking it to use all possible measures to ensure its territorial integrity and protect its people.
The call came hours after Russia’s parliament approved the deployment of military forces in Ukraine, in response to what Moscow claims is the threat being leveled against its servicemen and Russian citizens in the southern Crimea Peninsula.
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In addition to asking for NATO’s protection, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa urged the trans-Atlantic military alliance to aid it in securing nuclear facilities based in Ukraine, local news agency UNN reported.
The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s main governing body, was to hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to discuss events in Ukraine, the military bloc’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said on Twitter.
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Moscow accuses the West of backing the Ukrainian uprising, which it says has been directed by violent and politically extremist radicals.
On Saturday, Russian deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin expressed the hope that the international community would apply pressure on Kiev to normalize the situation.
In addition to acting as home to Russia’s strategically valuable Black Sea Fleet base, Crimea also has a substantial ethnic Russian community.
Politicians in Moscow have urged their government to act firmly on behalf of Russians in Crimea, many of who have apparently expressed a preference for the region to be annexed by their eastern neighbor.
Deshchitsa said a settlement for the situation in Crimea should be peaceful.
“We must not allow the use of force and provocations,” he said.
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