As I predicted on Sunday, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin formally requesting military intervention in Ukraine. Reuters reports, Russia: Ukraine's Yanukovych Asked For Military Intervention.
UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in Ukraine, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Monday.
"Under the influence of Western countries, there are open acts of terror and violence," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin quoted the letter from Yanukovych 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."
This serious escalation in tensions may indicate Vladimir Putin's intentions as we can assume everything Yanukovych says publicly has been scripted by Putin. To a certain extent, this may just be politics as multiple reports indicate Russian troops have already taken control of Crimea. Is Putin just doing the paper work here for the historical "justification" of his invasion of Crimea? Or, will Putin invade the rest of Ukraine?