Ukraine appoints interim president–what will Russia’s Putin do?

Oleksandr Turchynov (ВО Свобода)

The turmoil and change in Ukraine continues:

February 23, 2014

In a special session Sunday, Ukraine’s legislature voted to give the speaker of the Ukrainian assembly temporary presidential power. Oleksandr Turchinov is an ally of of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was freed from prison Saturday.

The whereabouts of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych remains unclear Sunday, one day after he left Kyiv.

Border guards say a plane intended to take Yanukovych to an unknown destination Saturday was denied permission to take off.

Opposition party leader Vitali Klitschko said Sunday the ousted leader should take full responsibility for the recent deadly violence in Ukraine…

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament has been meeting in a special Sunday session in an attempt to start forming a new national unity government…

Yanukovych, who had fled Kyiv for the eastern city of Kharkiv, said parliament’s decisions are illegal…

Protests erupted in November when President Yanukovych backed out of a trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russia. The protests began peacefully but descended into violence. Nearly 100 people were killed, including some protesters shot in the head by police snipers.

Ukraine is split between those in the east who favor ties with Russia, and those in the west who lean toward the European Union. http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-begins-work-on-national-unity-government/1857379.html

Many are wondering, not only what will Ukraine’s elected President Yanukovych and the Ukrainian military do, but what will Russia’s Vladimir Putin do:

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has fled the presidential palace and the nation’s capital, taking refuge in his hometown of Donetsk. That city is a 45-minute drive from the Russian border.

Two leading Russian politicians have flown from Moscow to meet with dozens of politicians from Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. At the meeting, one speaker called for “self-defense units” to block revolutionaries from Kyiv if they try to move on Eastern Ukraine.

Earlier, the speaker of Crimea’s parliament talked about ending Crimea’s 60-year attachment to Ukraine, and returning to Russian control. And on Saturday, Rossiya 24 broadcast an interview with Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin who said Russia should protect Crimea and Eastern Ukraine “with tanks.”

Where is Ukraine heading?

Will Europe’s largest nation split up?

Will Yanukovych rule a rump Ukraine, perhaps returning to the Czarist label: Little Russia?

If Ukraine cracks, will it be peaceful, the way Czechoslovakia split in 1993? Or will it be bloody, the way Yugoslovia did in slow motion in the 1990s?

A lot depends on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin…Putin is cold and calculating, one of the world’s most astute geo-strategists…

What will Putin do?

In the past, Putin has stated publicly what many Russians think privately: that Ukraine is not a nation.

Past Russian leaders have seen Ukraine as an economic colony and as a security buffer zone. It slowed down invaders from Europe. Today, Russia’s navy base in Crimea at Sevastopol projects power into the Black Sea and on to the Mediterranean.

So in a replay of Soviet history, we might soon hear calls for “fraternal assistance” from political leaders in Crimea and eastern Ukraine who want Russian peacekeepers to protect them…

Russian government TV is now in overdrive telling viewers that Ukrainian nationalists are neo-Nazi bandits paid and manipulated by the West. At the same time, the Kremlin is restricting dissident voices – TV channel Dozhd, Ria Novosti news service and Echo Moskvi radio.

And while Russia’s state-controlled media replace their portrayal of Ukrainians as Slavic brothers to with criticism of Western puppets, Russia distributes Russian passports in Crimea. This also was done in the region’s three Russian-speaking separatist enclaves that are now controlled by Russian “peacekeeping troops” – Moldova’s TransDniester and Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

If the Kremlin tries to engineer Crimea’s secession, it would fit with Russia’s divide and control policy toward its immediate neighbors. http://blogs.voanews.com/russia-watch/2014/02/22/will-putin-try-to-split-ukraine/?from=lister

Last night, a reader sent me the following:

PBS – The legislator of Kharkov, which calls itself the southeastern Parliament of Ukraine — that’s the area where it’s mainly Russian speaking and adheres to Russia — passed resolutions saying they don’t recognize the authority of the government in Kiev, which means they’re saying they’re sovereign and independent. So in effect, they’re now allied with Russia. Russia’s red line, if you want to ask me about whether Russia would intervene military, it’s red line are the two Russian enclaves in eastern Ukraine: Crimea and Sevastopol. Not only because those are ethnic Russians, but that’s where the Russian naval bases are…where thousands of Russian troops are stationed at the naval base in Sevastopol. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/clashes-ukraine-create-tension-u-s-russia/

“It could be that this spirals out of control,” says Galeotti. On Thursday, the speaker of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, told Russian radio that the autonomous republic may secede from Ukraine if tensions escalate further in the country. “It may happen if the country splits. Anyway, the entire situation is heading that way.” http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/02/21/ukraine-zakharchenko-euro-maidan-yanukovych.html

Perhaps I should point out that about 10% in Crimea are Crimean Tatars and most of them do not wish to have direct affiliation with Russia either. But as much of the eastern portion of Ukraine speaks Russian (at least those over 35) and have ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, many in the east would probably support a government with increased ties to Russia.

The USA is trying to discourage the idea of a split:

February 23, 2014

National Security Adviser Susan Rice said “the United States is on the side of the Ukrainian people” and wants to see democratic elections and “the opportunity for the people of Ukraine to come together in a coalition unity government” after President Viktor Yanukovich was toppled Saturday.Rice said Sunday during an appearance on Meet the Press that it “would be a grave mistake” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene militarily in the Ukraine crisis…

She said, “It’s not in the interest of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or of the United States to see a country split. It’s in nobody’s interests to see violence return and the situation escalate.”

She added that “there is not an inherent contradiction between a Ukraine that has longstanding historic and cultural ties to Russia, and a modern Ukraine that wants to integrate more closely with Europe.”

Ukraine depends on Russia, its neighbor to its east, for most of its natural gas and oil supplies…

Ukraine also is facing a potential sovereign debt crisis and the possibility of default. Under a Putin-Yanukovich agreement, Russia is providing $15 billion in loans to Ukraine. That deal may have been overtaken by the events of the past few days. http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/rice-u-s-backs-ukrainian-people-cautions-russian-involvement-n36606

I doubt US President Barack Obama wants to go to war with Russia over Ukraine.

Since Vladimir Putin wants to diminish the USA’s influence, do not be surprised if he takes decisive action. He may wish to show the world that he is not afraid of going against what the USA is trying to tell him to do. He wants to break what is considered to be USA hegemony and a growing European power. Vladimir Putin would be pleased to contribute to the breaking of the pride of USA power (cf. Leviticus 26:19).

At this stage, Vladimir Putin could basically declare that he is supporting the democratically-elected President of Ukraine and trying to stop terrorists/protesters from imposing their will on all of Ukraine. This could involve taking a stand in eastern Ukraine, and (and this is remote), possibly taking military actions in Kiev itself. The European Union and the USA do not wish to get into a hot war with Russia over Ukraine, yet (partially because of his goals for the Sochi Olympics) Vladimir Putin may not wish to upset his cultivated image of a reasonable leader who is interested in peace. But as Vladimir Putin also wants to create and expand a Eurasian Union, Ukraine may provide him an opportunity to get at least some of that territory in this upcoming organization.

That being said, as I have written before, there are mainly two regions and two clashing attitudes in Ukraine.

One passage of scripture that suggests that at least part of Ukraine could support the European Union is the following:

9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. (Daniel 8:9-12)

The European Union developed out of a small union of three European nations–Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, originally referred to as Benelux. Ukraine is south and mainly east of the nations that once were part of Benelux–the ‘entity’ that eventually grew into the European Union. So Ukraine, for a while at least, may end up supporting Europe–though that is not certain.

Ukraine is in in a very strategic location. Ukraine is located on the edge of Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. All but the first two and Moldova are currently in the European Union–and Moldova has applied (see Georgia and Moldova sign up to join European Union, Ukraine does not).

Because of end-time scripture concerning the Medes, it is clear that some in Ukraine will end up supporting a coming Russian-led confederation that will turn against the final European Babylonian Beast power. Notice the following:

1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw…

17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:1, 17-19)

11 Make the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)

Other scriptures show that a northern power will do the same at basically the same time:

9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior;
None shall return in vain. (Jeremiah 50:9)

The above is a Russian-led confederation which will involve the Medes, some of which are in Ukraine.

So, while the situation is changing for the nation of Ukraine. Despite interim steps, those known as Medes will end up turning against the European Babylon power in the end.

Some items of related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
WTO/TTIP and the Babylonian Beast Will international trade agreements like WTO/TTIP/CETA lead to the fulfillment of end time prophecies concerning the Babylonian Beast power that the Book of Revelation warns against? What does the Bible teach? A related video would be WTO Trade Deal and the Rise of the European Beast Power.
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Russia and Ukraine: Origins and Prophesied Future Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end?
Some Similarities and Differences Between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Continuing Church of God Both groups claim to be the original church, but both groups have differing ways to claim it. Both groups have some amazing similarities and some major differences. Do you know what they are?
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Edition for Second Obama Term This is a 160 page book for people truly interested in prophecies related to Barack Obama and the United States, including learning about many that have already been fulfilled (which the book documents in detail) and those that will be fulfilled in the future. It also has a chapter about a Republican choice. This book is available to order at www.barackobamaprophecy.com. The physical book can also be purchased at Amazon from the following link: Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States: Is Barack Obama Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic Catholic, Kenyan, and other America-Related Prophecies? What About Republican Leaders? Second Edition for Second Obama Term.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition. This electronic version is available for only US$2.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition.