Ukraine lawmakers dismiss defense minister

Parliament in Ukraine dismissed acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh on Tuesday in a second vote, having earlier rejected his offer to resign over his handling of Russia's annexation of Crimea.

The repeat vote followed consultations between party faction leaders and Ukraine's acting president and parliamentary speaker, Oleksander Turchinov.

Lawmakers elected Mykhailo Koval, head of the Ukrainian border guard, to replace Tenyukh.


Obama:

U.S. President Barack Obama said that Russia's annexation of Crimea was not a "done deal" as it has not been recognized by the international community.
   
He added that Washington was concerned about the possibility of further Russian encroachment into Ukraine.
   
"It is up to Russia to act responsibly and show itself once again to be willing to abide by international norms and ... if it fails to do so, there will be some costs," he said at the end of a nuclear security summit in The Hague.
   
He said additional sanctions would hurt Russia, but also the economies of other countries.

He also called Russia a "regional power" and said it had become involved in Ukraine out of weakness, not strength.
   
"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength but out of weakness," Obama said.
   
"We (the U.S.) have considerable influence on our neighbors. We generally don't need to invade them in order to have a strong cooperative relationship with them," he said.
   
He added that Russia is not the number one U.S. national security threat and that he is more concerned about the possibility of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.

Russia

Russia is interested in continuing contacts with G8 nations at all levels, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Tuesday.           

Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, which does not include Russia, agreed on Monday to suspend their participation in the Group of Eight industrialized nations until Russia changes course on Ukraine.                   

Asked about contacts with the G8 nations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying: "The Russian side continues to be ready to have such contacts at all levels, including the top level. We are interested in such contacts."                  

NATO          

NATO is very concerned about a Russian military build-up on Ukraine's borders and has all plans in place to defend members of the alliance, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday.                

"We are very much concerned about the Russian military build-up along the borders of Ukraine," Rasmussen told a news conference after talks with Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.             

"All NATO allies can be assured of our determination to provide effective defense ... We have all plans in place to provide effective defense of our allies," he said, adding that the Western military alliance was discussing with Kiev how it could enhance its support for non-NATO member Ukraine.           


REUTERS