Putin Discusses Ukraine at High-Level Security Meeting. © RIA Novosti. Alexei Druzhinin
Putin’s Silence on Ukraine Adds to Confusion -- Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
MOSCOW — Despite repeated vows not to interfere or intervene, President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia has now found itself more deeply ensnared than ever in Ukraine’s worsening political crisis, facing appeals to support the country’s ethnic Russians, provide haven for its deposed president and perhaps even undertake a military response. The question is whether he intended it that way.
Mr. Putin himself has made no public remarks on the turmoil in Ukraine since President Viktor F. Yanukovych’s flight from Kiev six days ago. That coincided with the end of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which officials here have celebrated as proof of the emergence of a new, powerful and proud Russia nearly a quarter century after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mr. Putin’s silence has resulted in confusion over Russia’s policy, even as the crisis in Ukraine has moved closer to Russia’s own border and raised concerns about Ukraine’s geopolitical and economic impact on Russia, which could stand to lose what it considers a place that is not only within its sphere of influence but part of its political and social identity.
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My Comment: For a person who likes the spotlight .... his absence from the public stage during the Ukraine crisis has been a surprise. In his place he has had others speak for him .... and he has used the Russian military to make a point. But he will have to eventually make a public remark on the crisis .... something that I suspect he will do after Friday's news conference by Ukrainian ex-President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
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