The UN Security Council (UNSC) held an urgent meeting on Friday on the situation in Ukraine.
Security Council members said that it is important for all political actors in the country to exercise maximum restraint and pursue inclusive dialogue.
The Council held closed-door consultations at the request of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN, who appealed in a letter to the Council President for an urgent meeting, “due to the deterioration of the situation in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, Ukraine, which threatens the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Raimonda Murmokaité, Permanent Representative of Lithuania, which holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation body for February, said: “The Security Council…reviewed with concern the recent developments in Ukraine.”
“Support was expressed for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. The Council agreed that it was important that all political actors in Ukraine exercise maximum restraint and called for an inclusive dialogue recognizing the diversity of the Ukrainian society," Murmokaité added.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power said: "We are gravely disturbed by reports of Russian military deployments into the Crimea."
She added that the US had called for an independent and credible international mediation mission to be dispatched to Crimea, in order to encourage peaceful dialogue to calm tensions.
Ukraine's UN ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev also accused Russia of illegally sending military planes and attack helicopters across the Ukraine border, declaring that his country was strong enough to defend itself.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that Russia is interested in the stability and prosperity of Ukraine more than anyone and is acting within existing agreements.
“We have an arrangement with Ukraine about the stationing of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and we are acting within the framework of that agreement,” Churkin added.
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