Letters: Crisis in the Crimea

People look at unidentified men in military fatigues blocking a base of the Ukrainian frontier guard unit in Balaklava on Saturday. Ukraine's border guard service said that about 300 armed men were attempting to seize its main headquarters in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

March 4, 2014 12 AM PT

Re “Russia’s power play gains steam,” March 3

I was against the Vietnam War and against our invasion of Iraq. I believe military action should be undertaken only in the gravest of circumstances and for the most compelling of reasons.

The situation in Ukraine is such a circumstance.

At the request of Kiev, we should place a small military force there to underscore the depth of our commitment to Ukraine’s right of self-determination. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown that he is committed to the use of military force to assure a Russian Ukraine; we must show that we are equally committed to a free Ukraine.

If Ukraine falls under Russia’s domination, how do we stop later incursions or explain why we did not resist?

Darrel Miller

Santa Monica

Is it really worth risking a new Cold War to support a coup against the elected president of Ukraine?

One hundred years ago, the Russian empire went to war to protect Serbia (a nation of Slavic Christians) from destruction at the hands of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Now, the United States and its European allies are supporting a coup in a nation that not only borders the Russian Federation but is home to millions of ethnic Russians who voted for the government recently overthrown.

The Obama administration is playing with fire. And for what? What of value does the U.S. stand to gain by its hypocritical support for Ukrainian insurgents?

Christopher Monty

Redondo Beach

::Logic dictates that Russia will never allow the loss of Crimea, a section of the country that was gifted to Ukraine by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. All of the elements for a civil war are in place and ready to explode.

President Obama, who is known for being pragmatic, should accept this reality and negotiate a deal to partition the country. Russia should be allowed to annex Crimea; in exchange, Moscow could assume Ukraine’s debt and provide additional financial aid.

Carlos Khantzis

Woodland Hills

Given Obama’s follow-through to Bashar Assad after he crossed the “red line” by using chemical weapons in Syria, Putin must be quaking in his boots after Obama’s warning on Russian involvement in Ukraine.

Brad Freeman

Los Angeles

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