At UN, US blasts Russia military action in Ukraine; Russia says ousted Yanukovych requested it

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, is criticizing Russian military action in Ukraine’s Crimea region, telling an urgent meeting of the Security Council: “One might think that Moscow has just become the rapid response arm of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

Monday’s meeting comes as the West scrambles to respond to Russia’s tightening grip on the strategic region amid fears that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador says Ukraine’s fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych asked President Vladimir Putin to use Russia’s armed forces “to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine.”

Yanukovych fled to Russia after his ouster and had said Friday that he would not ask for Russian forces.

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