8.55 p.m. GMT
Ed Pilkington reports from the emergency UN security councilmeeting that Vitaly Churkin, the Russian diplomatic representative at the UN, has just shown the other members of the council what he claimed was a letter from Viktor Yanukovich, the ousted president of Ukraine who is now in exile in Russia.
In the letter, the former leader of the troubled country calls on the Russian president Vladimir Putin to use his military to invade parts of Ukraine. Churkin reads:
“As the legitimate elected representative, I say the events in Kiev have resulted in Ukraine being on the brink of civil war. The rights of people in Crimea are being threatened. Under the influence of Western countries, there are open acts of terror. I would call on the president of Russia, Mr Putin, to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish peace and defend the people of Ukraine.”
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, has just taken the floor with this acerbic riposte: “So many of the assertions made this afternoon are without basis in reality”.
Source: theguardian
