Ignoring Obama, Putin seeks military force

Russian President Vladimir Putin formally requested permission from the Russian Senate to use military force in Ukraine, defying a warning by President Obama on Friday to stay out of the Crimean peninsula.

The request was the latest provocation in a rapidly unfolding crisis following the ouster of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych, in a popular uprising.

After Russian troops entered Crimea on Friday, Obama delivered a televised statement from the White House in which he said he was “deeply concerned” about the threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty and warned Putin that there would be “costs” for any military intervention.

“It would represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by the Ukrainian people,” Obama said. “It would be a clear violation of Russia’s commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, and of international laws. And just days after the world came to Russia for the Olympic Games, it would invite the condemnation of nations around the world. And indeed, the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.”

After the statement, Vice President Joseph Biden spoke to the new Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and reaffirmed the U.S.’s “strong support for the new government and our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine,” the White House said.