‘US must send lethal arms to Ukraine’:McCain and Graham

Hawkish Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham call on US President Barack Obama to send lethal weapons to Ukraine to counter Moscow’s “acts of aggression” in Ukraine.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier, in which nearly 97 percent of the participants voted in favor of the move.

On March 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the documents officially making Crimea part of the Russian territory. He said the move was carried out based on the international law.

The new authorities in Kiev have sought military assistance from Washington, but the Pentagon has claimed that it would only consider non-lethal aid to Ukraine.

In a statement issued on Friday, Senators McCain and Graham said Putin is threatening Ukraine by amassing troops near Ukraine’s border, adding that the US and its allies must counter the Russian move.

Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry said troops were stationed along the Ukraine border for scheduled military exercises.

“We call on President Obama, together with our NATO allies, to immediately fulfill the Ukrainian government’s request for military assistance,” the US senators said.

Assistance should include “small arms, ammunition, and defensive weapons, such as anti-armor and anti-aircraft systems” as well as non-lethal aid including protective equipment and intelligence sharing capability, the senators added.

“No one denies that Ukraine is overmatched militarily by Russia,” they said, but the US and its allies should act now “because giving victims of aggression some better means to defend their sovereign territory against further acts of aggression is simply the right and decent thing to do.”

“Events in Crimea and the growing Russian threat in Europe’s east must be a wake-up call to NATO,” they said.

Russia is deploying troops in Crimea to protect its naval bases there after the recent ouster of Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovych.

Washington has suspended military ties with Russia, including joint maneuvers, port visits and planning meetings.

On Thursday, the US Senate and House of Representatives passed bills to provide aid to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russians and Ukrainians over their alleged involvement in developments in Crimea.

US officials say that if Moscow does not stop deploying forces in Crimea, Washington should also impose sanctions on Russia’s state-owned financial institutions.

Recently, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland disclosed that Washington has “invested” about $5 billion in “promoting democracy” in Ukraine over the past two decades.

In early February, Nuland visited Ukraine and held meetings with anti-Kremlin politicians who organized anti-government protests that led to the ouster of Yanukovych.