Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, to repeal a March 1 resolution, which allows him to use the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine, should such a need arise, the Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
“On Tuesday [June 24], before leaving for Vienna on an official visit, Putin
forwarded a letter to the Federation Council, addressed to the upper
chamber’s Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, asking the Federation Council to
repeal its March 1, 2014 resolution No. 48-FZ “On the use of the Armed
Forces of Russia on the territory of Ukraine”, Peskov said.
The Russian president’s request is “aimed at normalizing the
situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine and comes in response to the
launch of trilateral negotiations on this matter,” he said.
On March, 1 Putin asked the Federation Council for permission to use
the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine “pending the normalization of the
social and political situation in that country”.
On the same day, the chamber unanimously voted in favor of granting this permission to the president.
Recent amendments to Russia’s defense law authorize the supreme
commander-in-chief to determine the numerical strength of Russian
forces, as well as the amount of weapons and military hardware if the
Federation Council gives permission to use the Russian Armed Forces
outside of Russian territory.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said then that President Putin would not
necessarily immediately exercise the authorization to use Russian
forces in Crimea that he received from the Federation Council on March
1.
“The permission unanimously given to President of Russian Vladimir
Putin to use the Russian Armed Forces pending the normalization of the
social and political situation in Ukraine only means that the president
will be able to do so, should the situation deteriorate further,” it
said.
The Federation Council’s decision drew a negative response from the European Union and the United States.
