UN Security Council meets again on Ukraine crisis

The United Nations Security Council holds a new round of closed-door talks on the situation in Ukraine, the fourth such meeting in less than a week.

The 15-member council was expected to discuss the mission of UN special envoy to Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea on Thursday, AFP reported.

Robert Serry had to end his mission and fly out of the region after he was stopped by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday.

The council members were also expected to discuss what British envoy Mark Lyall Grant called “some very disturbing developments — the increasing build-up of Russian forces and the decision by the so-called Crimea parliament to allow Crimea to be annexed by Russia.”

The previous Security Council meeting on Ukraine ended in stalemate on Monday after Russia dismissed criticism of its actions in Ukraine.

On Thursday, lawmakers in Crimea unanimously declared they wanted to join Russia and would put the decision to voters in 10 days.

The new Ukrainian government, however, has declared the planned vote illegal, and opened a criminal investigation against Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Askyonov.

“This is an illegitimate decision and this so-called referendum has no legal grounds at all. That’s the reason why we urge the Russian government not to support those who support separatism in the Ukraine,” interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said.

Yatseniuk also said that Crimea was and will remain an integral part of Ukraine

First Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Rustam Temirgaliev reacted by saying that the region is already part of Russia, and the vote is only needed to stamp this.

Political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013 after the ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia.

On February 23, the Ukrainian parliament ousted Yanukovych and named Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s newly-elected speaker, as interim president.