The alert level in the Ukrainian crisis just got raised another notch. John Kerry is more or less accusing Russia of attempting to use the same tactics they did in Crimea to justify a military invasion of eastern Ukraine.
John Kerry fears potential Crimea-style action after pro-Russian forces cement control of government building in Donetsk
The US issued a stark warning on Tuesday that Moscow could be orchestrating another Crimea-style intervention in eastern Ukraine, after pro-Russian forces cemented their control of a government building in the city of Donetsk and there were claims that in Luhansk protesters had taken up to 60 people hostage and were laying mines.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, described recent developments in eastern Ukraine as "more than deeply disturbing" and repeated threats of western sanctions against Russia, which he said would be expanded to the country's energy, banking and mining sectors.
Kerry blamed pro-Russian protests in eastern Ukraine on "special forces and agents" sent by Moscow in a move he said "could potentially be a contrived pretext for military intervention just as we saw in Crimea".
Kerry said: "Everything that we've seen in the past 48 hours from Russian provocateurs and agents operating in eastern Ukraine tells us that they've been sent there determined to create chaos. That is absolutely unacceptable. These efforts are as ham-handed as they are transparent, frankly."
Kerry has brought a generally stem winding political style to his role as Sec. of State. Calming troubled waters is not exactly his strong suit. The waters in Ukraine are already churning. The government in Kiev has sent security personnel to try to dislodge the protesters. A fist fight broke out in the Ukrainian parliament today when members of the right wing Svoboda party attempted to physically remove a speaker that they didn't like from the rostrum.