As is widely known, Ukraine's acting post-coup PM Arseniy Yatsenuk is currently in the US and holding heating talks with president Obama on just how to define the "costs" to Russia should Putin conclude his annexation of the Crimea this weekend in a way that the Russian leader will finally pay attention. As was less known, after his meeting, at 8 pm tonight, the PM was supposed to hold a press conference at the National Press Club.
To wit [9]:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will speak and take questions about the situation in his home country at the National Press Club at 8 p.m. today, after his meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House.
Yatsenyuk became prime minister last month after the Ukrainian Parliament removed President Vicktor Yanukovych from power after a peoples’ revolt.
Yatsenyuk’s first weeks in power have been dominated by Russian military moves in Crimea. Yatsenyuk – who has vowed not to give up “a single centimeter of Ukrainian land” in its conflict with Russia -- will meet with Obama Wednesday afternoon in hopes that the meeting will spark a resolution to the conflict.
The event, in the Holeman Lounge, is open only to credentialed media with ID. Space is limited. To register, please send an email to Melinda Cooke of the Press Club staff at mcooke@press.org [10], and be sure to include your full name, title and employer. Your reservation will be confirmed and you will receive a ticket to cover this event. Cameras must be pre-set by 7:30 p.m.
The prime minister’s appearance will follow the traditional NPC Speakers format, with a speech followed by a question-and-answer session in which Club President Myron Belkind will ask questions handed up from the audience. To submit a question in advance of the speech, please email your question to NPC Speakers Committee Chairman Jerry Zremski at jzremski@buffnews.com [11], with the word “UKRAINE” in the subject line.
As of moments ago, this propaganda meet and greet has been cancelled.
- DUE TO A SCHEDULING CHANGE, THE PRIME MINISTER HAS CANCELED THIS EVENT
Scheduling change? Really? Did Yatsenyuk ask Obama, in passing, to show him where the Ukraine gold, which as we reported a few days ago was rumored to have been airlifted to the NY Fed, which resulted in a less than pleasant response by the US president?
Or maybe the reason for this drastic last minute alteration to plans? Perhaps this statement posted on the website of the Russian embassy in the UK [12]has something to do with it:
On the 11 March, by decree of the Supreme Council of Crimea, the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol was adopted, according to which, if a decision to become part of Russia is made at the referendum of the 16 March, Crimea will be announced an independent and sovereign state with a republican order. According to this document, Crimea will be a democratic, laic and multinational state, with an obligation to maintain peace, international and intersectarian consent in its territory. If the referendum brings the respective results, Crimea as an independent and sovereign state will turn to the Russian Federation with the proposition to accept the Republic of Crimea on the basis of a respective interstate treaty into the Russian Federation as a new constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
The Declaration contains international and legal justification of this step, with references to the UN Charter and other international documents, as well as the decision of the UN’s International Court of Justice of 22 July 2010 on Kosovo. With this decision, adopted at the request of the UN General Assembly at the initiative of Serbia, the International Court of Justice confirmed the fact that unilateral announcement of independence by a part of a state does not violate any provision of international law. The same conclusion was clearly reached during the preceding hearings in the International Court of Justice, in particular, documents and speeches of official representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark and other western countries. Materials regarding the position of the International Court of Justice and the above mentioned western representatives are posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the decision of the Crimean Parliament is absolutely within its rights. The Russian Federation will fully respect the results of the free will of the Crimean people at the referendum, to which (as is a known fact) the OSCE’s and bilateral observers were invited.
It appears that Russia has already - in its own mind - annexed Crimea.