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Interfax: Russian Black Sea fleet says has no plans to launch assault on Ukrainian military units in Crimea-@Reuters http://t.co/zr3vq2Uy1O
— AJAM Live (@ajamlive) March 3, 2014
@bbcmarkmardell
"US State Dept says they are preparing to put sanctions on Russia and are "moving down that path"
Uh... their stock market dropped 11%, just in reaction to CONCERNS about a potential conflict in the Ukraine. Still dropping. Their currency has been devalued. And no sanctions have even been imposed yet. Russia is incredibly fragile economically, always has been, and is more reliant on the West than it ever has been.
Economic warfare can do far more damage to Russia than conventional warfare can, practically speaking. Actually engaging, or even threatening to (i.e. troop / carrier movements) will just end badly for everyone involved, especially the USA; there's no political will for a physical intervention.
In contrast, what can Russia do in response to economic sanctions? Not much, besides shutting off the gas to eastern and central Europe, which would hurt them as much as anyone else.
"Under the influence of Western countries, there are open acts of terror and violence," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin quoted the letter from Yanukovich to Putin in an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
"People are being persecuted for language and political reasons," he quoted the letter as saying. "So in this regard I would call on the President of Russia, Mr. Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine."
The government will not curb trade with Russia or close London's financial centre to Russians as part of any possible package of sanctions against Moscow, according to an official document.
The document, which was photographed as a senior official carried it into a meeting in Downing Street, says that "the UK should not support for now trade sanctions or close London's financial centre to Russians", while it confirms that ministers ARE considering - along with other EU countries - visa restrictions and travel bans on key Russian figures.
It also says that ministers should "discourage any discussion (eg at Nato) of contingency military preparations" and support "contingency EU work on providing Ukraine with alternative gas" and oil supplies "if Russia cuts them off".
Until now ministers have made no specific threats of action against Russia and Downing Street have stressed the need to keep open the possibility of de-escalating the crisis.
The prime minister said this afternoon that Russia would face "diplomatic, political, economic and other pressures" to send a "clear message" about its actions in the Ukraine.
'Significant costs'The reason for this form of words is clear. Public statements should for now be kept "generic", the document says, whereas specific threats should be "contingent and used for private messaging".
This is in stark contrast to the specific hardline threats made by US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday.
One senior government source told me: "We prefer to speak softly and carry a big stick."
They stressed that European countries were pursuing a deliberate policy of showing to Russia that de-escalation was still possible whilst being clear that "significant costs" would follow if Moscow does not seek a peaceful conclusion to its dispute with Ukraine.
I understand that the prime minister hopes to speak to Germany's Chancellor Merkel tonight. The German attitude is regarded as crucial since they are traditionally in favour of a less confrontational approach to Russia and are heavily dependent on Russian gas and oil.
Downing Street is refusing to comment on a secret document though I understand that other scenarios were considered at a meeting of the National Security Council today
