Putin signs Crimea's admission to RF, mentions Kosovo

Putin signs Crimea's admission to RF, mentions Kosovo

The treaty was signed after Putin addressed the Russian parliament in Moscow on Tuesday.

In his address, Putin recalled that Sunday's referendum in Crimea saw a turnout of 82 percent and while more than 96 percent of those voted in favor of joining Russia.

It would have been "a betrayal to leave Crimea in trouble, and the U.S. has no right to decide the fate of Crimea," he stated, Itar-Tass reported.

He also "stressed that Russia has vital interests in Crimea."

Russia does not intend to take other regions after Crimea, and respects Ukraine's territorial integrity, Putin also said, according to the Russian news agency.

He noted that his country "welcomes cooperation with NATO - but does not want it at its borders."

Putin thanked the Chinese leadership "for considering the Ukrainian situation in its full historical complexity."

"The U.S. says that Kosovo precedent is a unique case, so why do they think that Crimea's situation is not unique?," Putin asked, and concluded: "These are not double standards, this is outright cynicism."

As for the new, pro-Western authorities in power in Kiev since the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, Putin said there is now "no legitimate political leadership in Ukraine, there is no one to deal with."

He said that while he understood that "people who went to Maidan with peaceful slogans protested against corruption and poverty," what then transpired was "nationalists executing a coup, trying to revise the language policy, which would have undermined the rights of minorities."

"The Russian-speaking population in Ukraine faced constant humiliation," the president stressed, according to Itar-Tass.

Precedent

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the Crimean leadership declared independence based on the “well-known Kosovo precedent”, which was created by the western countries themselves.

"The Crimean leadership followed the well-known Kosovo precedent, which the western counterparts had set themselves. In the situation clearly similar to that in Crimea they recognized as legitimate the secession of Kosovo from Serbia, thus proving that no decisions from central authorities are required for a unilateral declaration of independence," Putin said, according to a Tanjug report quoting Itar-Tass.

Putin noted that western countries refer to Kosovo as “a special case”, as there had been many victims in the Kosovo conflict.

It is beyond double standards, Putin said. It is a kind of baffling, primitive and blatant cynicism. One can't just twist things to fit their interests, to call something white on one day and black on the next one, he added.

Ethnic Albanians in 2008 unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo, and in 2010, Serbia, which rejected the proclamation, sought an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Addressing members of the Federal Assembly, regional governors and Crimean leaders, Putin quoted two documents, which cited "Kosovo's right to independence."

He quoted the opinion of the UN International Court of Justice on Kosovo that "no general prohibition against unilateral declarations of independence may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council" and that "general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence".

Putin also quoted an excerpt from a U.S. memorandum on Kosovo presented to the international court, reading that “declarations of independence, can, and often do, violate domestic law, however this does not mean that there is a violation of international law."

Actions of the Crimean people clearly fit this approach, Russia's president noted.

For some reason, the approach allowed to Albanians in Kosovo is not allowed to Russians, Ukrainians or Crimean Tatars in Crimea, RIA Novosti reports Putin as saying.

Putin accused the U.S. and their allies of usurping the right to decide on the fate of the world, forming coalitions based on the principle “those who are not with us are against us”, and ignoring the UN decisions.

"After the disintegration of the bipolar world, only they seized the right to decide the destinies of the world, they use force against sovereign states, create coalitions, push through the UN resolutions they need and ignore other decisions,” Itar-Tass quotes Putin as saying.

Putin also recalled the bombing of Belgrade, “although the UN Security Council had not given a resolution for that,” the events in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and a series of “orchestrated revolutions".

Clearly, the people in those countries were tired of dictatorship, poverty, lack of prospects, but those feelings were abused. Instead of democracy and freedom, terror ensued.

“The Arab Spring is now replaced by the Arab Winter,” said Putin.