Last week, New Era published an article ‘Ukraine: Namibian students stay put’, about the ministry of international relations cautioning Namibian students in Ukraine to stay put while the government is monitoring the political situation as tensions between Ukraine and Russia increased.
The press secretary of the Russian embassy in Namibia, Andrey Intyakov states that in March 2014, Russia acted in full accordance with the international law since its military presence in Crimea (Black Sea fleet) was strictly in compliance with pertinent bilateral treaties that provided legal grounds for placing the Russian military contingent on the territory of Ukraine.
“After the coup d’état in Kyiv and numerous attempts by radical supporters of the new and illegitimate regime to attack the Crimean Parliament and to suppress those in Crimea who were against the coup, the government of Crimea in accordance with its powers undertook a referendum on the future of the peninsula,” he said.
He further referenced the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin’s statement on 18 March 2014, stating Russia did not introduce troops into Crimea, but only reinforced its grouping.
He said “such action was taken to protect the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots and staff of the military contingent of the Russian armed forces deployed on the territory of Ukraine in accordance with the international treaty.”
“The number of Russian troops in Crimea remained within the frames envisaged by the above Russia-Ukraine Agreements,” he said, also adding that the Russian president confirmed his constitutional right in the national parliament on the use of the Russian troops abroad, but he did not use it.
He added that there were no clashes between Russian and Ukrainian troops at that time and the servicemen of the Russian armed forces did not participate in the voting during the Crimean referendum and could not influence its outcome.