Russia reports ballistic missile test amid Crimea tension

BBC News online -- 4 March 2014

There have been tense moments as Ukrainian and pro-Russian troops faced off in Crimea

The Russian military says it has test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, as tension continues over Ukraine's Crimea region.

A Topol RS-12M missile was launched from Russia's Kapustin Yar test range near the Caspian Sea to the Sary Shagan range in Kazakhstan, it said.

It comes after the US accused Russia of an "act of aggression" in Crimea.
The US said it was given advance notice of the missile launch, as required by bilateral arms treaties.

"We have been notified of this test earlier this week, it's not unexpected," a defence official told the AFP news agency.

The Topol was fired at 22:10 (18:10 GMT), the defence ministry in Moscow said, adding: "The aim of the launch was to test a promising intercontinental ballistic missile payload."
The nuclear-capable missile reached its target successfully, the ministry said.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says such tests are planned long in advance, but that it inevitably adds another element of Cold War-style tension to the current crisis.
Putin's denial
 
Moscow is in de facto control of the Crimean peninsula after troops thought to be Russian or pro-Russian took control of strategic points in recent days.

Troops are surrounding Ukrainian military bases and other installations, while two Ukrainian warships are reported to be blocked by a Russian ship in the port of Sevastopol.

US Secretary of State John Kerry: "The US will stand with the Ukrainian people"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the troops are Russian, saying they are "local self-defence forces" loyal to Moscow, protecting the bases from "nationalists" and "anti-Semites".

He said Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted as Ukraine's president in late February after months of protest, remained the legitimate leader, though he admitted that he had "no political future".
Russia, said Mr Putin, was prepared to act to protect Russian citizens and speakers anywhere in Ukraine.

A Topol missile which was in transit outside Moscow last week, Reuters reports

Pro-Russian troops have blocked Ukrainian soldiers in their barracks in Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin denies having deployed any troops in Crimea and says the soldiers are self-defence groups

 

There have been shows of support for Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine, but on Tuesday a peace rally was held in the eastern city of Donetsk.

"We did not ask for help. I don't want him, Putin, to bring tanks here. I don't want them to shoot at my kids," one woman, Natalia Sytnik, told Reuters.

"Let him hear us: 'Do not defend me from anyone. No one is attacking me'."

Kiev and the West have accused Russia of mounting an invasion of Crimea, which has a majority Russian-speaking population.

US President Barack Obama accused Russia of "seeking through force to exert influence on a neighbouring country".

"That is not how international law is supposed to operate," he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting the Ukrainian capital Kiev, said there was no indication at all that Russian citizens or Russian-speakers were in any danger in post-uprising Ukraine, and that "it is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further".

He praised the "restraint" of the new government there, which took power after the overthrow of Russian ally President Viktor Yanukovych last month and which held talks with Mr Kerry on Tuesday.

In one hint of progress on Tuesday, Ukraine's new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said tentative talks had taken place between Russian and Ukrainian ministers. He described them as "rather timid" but "first steps", AFP news agency reports.

Mr Yatsenyuk has insisted that there are no grounds for Russian troops to be in Ukraine. Kiev was still prepared to build a new post-uprising relationship with Moscow, he was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian news agency Unian.

• Nato and Russia agreed to hold talks on Wednesday. Nato General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia continued to "violate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity", presenting "serious implications for the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area"
• EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had "a useful discussion" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Madrid, said an EU source
• Mr Lavrov said the Russian position was "honest" and would not change, and that sanctions against Russia would be "counter-productive"

Both the US and the EU have offered financial help to Ukraine, which is facing a growing economic crisis amid its severed ties with Moscow.

Mr Kerry took to Kiev a $1bn (£600m; 720m euros) package of energy subsidies, and told the crowds who remain in Independence Square after months of protests that President Obama "is planning more assistance".

The EU is considering paying the $2bn which Ukraine owes to Russia in gas bills, AFP news agency quotes EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger as saying.