| Umm no, Julia, he didn't declare war on us, he declared war on YOU... |
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...is fully conscious that by declaring war (on Ukraine), he is also declaring war on the guarantors of our security, the United States and Britannia," the former prime minister said in a video address posted on her website.
"They have occupied our Crimea," Tymoshenko said of the pro-Russian gunnies who have taken control of the Black Sea peninsula since Putin won a green light to use force in Ukraine.
Under a 1994 Budapest memorandum on security assurances, Washington and London agreed to guarantee Ukraine's safety in exchange for its giving up nuclear weapons.
Tymoshenko's comments coincided with a Kiev visit by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who warned of "consequences and costs" for Russia.
Ukraine accused Russia Monday of pouring extra troops and planes into Crimea, adding to the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.