U.S. Balks at Ukraine Military-Aid Request
U.S. Officials Wary of Inflaming Russia, Agree Only to MREs
By ADAM ENTOUS
WASHINGTON—Ukraine's interim government has appealed for U.S. military aid, including arms, ammunition and intelligence support, according to senior U.S. officials. But the Obama administration has agreed to send only military rations for now, wary of inflaming tensions with Russia.
The U.S. decision reflects the Pentagon's reluctance to be seen as directly supporting Ukraine's beleaguered armed forces during the standoff with Russia, which has seized the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
The risk of escalation was underscored by Russia's move on Thursday to conduct another military exercise near Ukraine. The Kremlin also confirmed it has sent six Sukhoi fighter jets and three transport planes to another former Soviet republic, Belarus, for joint patrols.
Belarusian officials said the move came in response to increased air patrols in the region by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization amid the Ukraine crisis.
Amid such shows of force, U.S. officials acknowledge the Obama administration faces a difficult balancing act. It wants to show support for Ukraine's interim leaders without further antagonizing an unpredictable Moscow or inadvertently emboldening the Ukrainian military to take steps that could spark violence.
"It's not a forever 'no,' it's a 'no for now,'" a senior U.S. official said of Ukraine's request for lethal military support.
Ahead of a visit to Ukraine Friday with other lawmakers, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona criticized the administration's response. "We shouldn't be imposing arms embargoes on victims of aggression," he said.
Ukraine's request coincided with this week's visit to the White House by the country's new prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and came just before Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart in London in a last-ditch bid for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. A referendum Sunday could decide whether the region of Crimea breaks away from Ukraine and joins Russia.
Addressing the U.N. Security Council in New York on Thursday, Mr. Yatsenyuk offered dialogue with Russia to become "real partners" and vowed to defend all minorities in the country. The U.S. said it had drafted a resolution declaring Sunday's referendum illegal, but it is likely to be vetoed by Russia.
Mr. Kerry spoke briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, reiterating U.S. concerns about the referendum. Mr. Kerry, in testimony before a congressional panel, signaled that U.S. and its European allies were preparing to take "a very serious series of steps" on Monday, barring a change of course by Moscow.
The sanctions threat was underscored by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who delivered an uncharacteristically sharp warning to Russia.
She said Europe was ready to impose visa bans and asset freezes if Moscow didn't agree to start negotiations with Kiev, and that the West was ready to impose broader economic sanctions if Ukraine were further threatened.
"If Russia continues with its policy of the past weeks, then this wouldn't only be a disaster for Ukraine. We as neighboring states would also regard this as a threat," Ms. Merkel said in a speech to parliament in Berlin.
"This wouldn't only change the relationship between the European Union as a whole to Russia, but would also, and I am deeply convinced of this, massively damage Russia economically and politically," she said.
In a sign of how serious the situation had become, Ms. Merkel felt the need to make it clear that "military action isn't an option for us." But her speech evoked Europe's bloody history, including the world wars and the Holocaust, in insisting that territorial conflicts on the continent shouldn't be repeated.
Her warnings toward Russia are virtually unprecedented for a German leader in recent decades, a period in which Germany has tried to reconcile with its World War II adversary.
Germany's business ties to Russia, with some $100 billion in trade yearly, are closer than that of any other Western nation.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whose country borders Ukraine and has pushed Europe to take a harder line with Moscow, said he was skeptical planned sanctions will be enough to halt Russian expansion.
"I hope Crimea is not just phase one, but I fear it might be," Mr. Sikorski said in an interview. "It takes two to tango in order to get a compromise and I see no indication from Russia that they are ready for one."
Many Poles worry that if Russia is allowed to take Crimea, the country will push further into Ukraine and seize other Russian-speaking territories in the east and south.
That, in turn, could destabilize the entire region.
In a show of defiance, the Kremlin said tanks, infantry and other troops were leaving their bases for maneuvers close to Ukraine that are scheduled to last until the end of March.
At the same time, however, Russia did agree to start negotiations on forming a monitoring mission in Ukraine backed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a spokesman for the organization's chairperson-in-office said Thursday.
International aid for Ukraine continued taking shape. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Thursday that IMF officials in Ukraine aim to wrap up negotiations for a bailout with the government in Kiev by March 21 following "good progress" in their fact-finding mission.
A Senate committee this week approved legislation including up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine, but headed into a weeklong recess without ironing out differences with the House, delaying the aid until the end of the month at the earliest.
In its detailed request for U.S. military assistance, the Ukrainian government asked the Pentagon to provide arms and ammunition, communications gear, intelligence support, aviation fuel and night-vision goggles, along with other items, according to officials briefed on the emergency Ukrainian appeal.
The Pentagon has agreed for now to only provide the Ukrainians with supplies of U.S. military rations known as "Meals Ready to Eat," or MREs, which were also part of the Ukrainian request. They could start shipping within days, officials said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke last week to his Ukrainian counterpart, Acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh, who asked for U.S. technical advice on humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief efforts, the Pentagon said. Mr. Hagel told Mr. Tenyukh that the U.S. would take any Ukrainian requests for assistance into consideration.
Ukraine's formal request for military aid, including sizable quantities of weapons and ammunition, was submitted to the Pentagon following that call. U.S. officials wouldn't specify what the Ukrainians intended to do with the supplies.
In a report to Parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Tenyukh said the country's armed forces had been neglected and underfinanced since independence in 1991.
"Today, the armed forces have only two components: tactics and fighting spirit," he told lawmakers.
Ukrainian forces had been put on combat-ready alert, "but the result is disappointing," he said.
Mr. Tenyukh said around half of the army's 41,000 infantry should be ready for combat. "In reality, just 6,000 are ready," he said.
"We are not contemplating lethal assistance at this moment," said the senior U.S. official. "In fact, we have been clear with them that their focus needs to be on economic assistance."
Any U.S. military assistance to Ukraine could fuel the Kremlin's suspicions that the U.S. orchestrated the revolution there as a way to draw Ukraine toward the NATO and militarily encroach on Russia.
The Pentagon has been reluctant to get directly involved in Ukraine's standoff with Russia, wary of widening the crisis.
The Pentagon has, however, stepped up military operations in Eastern Europe to reassure anxious allies, from boosting joint training of NATO forces in Poland to increasing air patrols over Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
The Pentagon has also suspended military cooperation with Russia.
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Originally Posted by Loki
I was replying to EJ that Ukraine 'owning' the physical pipelines doesn't matter, because Russia 'owns' the energy materials....and controls trade and financial policies as well. 
You mentioned nuclear weaponry and retaliation, not the NSA or CNN.
By not sending a strong signal, we ensure the next conflict will be a bit closer to our strategic core.
