Ukraine minister: Vladimir Putin’s visit to illegally occupied Crimea is unacceptable

 
Contentious trip: Vladimir Putin is to address the Crimean parliament
Will Stewart13 August 2014

Ukraine has attacked Vladimir Putin’s visit to annexed Crimea today, with a senior government minister declaring it “unacceptable”. His two-day visit comes amid deep tension over his plans for eastern Ukraine, with up to 45,000 troops stationed in border regions.

The Russian leader is to address the Crimean parliament and hold a meeting on the crisis in Ukraine with his security council, comprising his intelligence and defence chiefs, in Sevastopol, headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Fears of a showdown have grown as a 280-truck convoy of “humanitarian aid” from Russia heads for Ukraine.

It is expected to arrive at the border later today. Kiev has insisted it will block the convoy and only allow the aid to proceed once checks have confirmed there is no military equipment in the delivery.

It comes as 12 Ukrainian nationalist fighters, travelling to join a pro-Russian insurgency just outside the eastern city of Donetsk, were killed early today when rebels ambushed their bus, according to a group spokesman.

Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Danylo Lubkivsky attacked Mr Putin’s decision to go to Crimea, his second visit since he annexed the territory in March. Mr Lubivsky said: “Crimea is illegally occupied. It’s unacceptable for Russian leaders to be staying there.”

Meanwhile Poland is to make a formal protest to the Kremlin over “scandalous” comments from a top Russian politician that eastern Europe would be “wiped out from the surface of the Earth” if the Ukraine crisis worsens.

Ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the far-Right Liberal Democratic Party, claimed on state-owned TV that Mr Putin had already decided to start a third world war.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he had summoned Russian ambassador to Warsaw Alexander Alexeev to express Poland’s anger at Mr Zhirinovsky’s comments.

He said the Polish response “will not go unnoticed by Russian authorities”.

After demands from east European states for tough action against Moscow over Ukraine, Mr Zhirinovsky said: “The Baltic States [Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania] and Poland... will be wiped out from the surface of the Earth.

“It is time for the heads of these tiny dwarf states to... realise what troubles they are getting themselves into.”

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