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COLIN BRAZIER: Now Europe must stand firm against bullying behaviour from Moscow, that’s the warning from our Foreign Secretary William Hague, after pro-Russian forces seized control of more Ukrainian military sites.  Well I’m joined now by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Volodymyr Khandogiy.  Mr Ambassador welcome, thanks for coming in this morning.  I wonder if you have seen the reports as we have this morning from the Reuters News Agency and others suggesting that NATO’s top military commander says Russian forces at Ukraine’s eastern border is very sizeable and very ready, as he puts it. 

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: Yes, I have heard that report today, this morning. 

CB: It seems odd doesn’t it, I was in Donetsk in the east of Ukraine two weeks ago, there were demonstrations then, tens of thousands of people who were they felt pretty outraged about the behaviour of the government in Kiev but this is in a city of a million people and it was a small number who were campaigning for that Russian position so we shouldn’t be that worried about what Russia’s intentions are.

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: Well we have to be worried about what Russian intentions are.  As far as the demonstrations in Donetsk, I think they were not in tens of thousands numbers, they were much less than that but still there are people there that demonstrate but what I want to underline is that this is the manufactured problem, it’s a problem that …

CB: But it’s not completely manufactured is it?  They are taking power in Kiev, you have downgraded Russian as a language from an official status. 

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: No, it is quite different, we have not downgraded anything.  The law was adopted but was not signed by the acting President of Ukraine and so it was not enacted and even if it did, it was simply turning to the law which existed until 2012.

CB: Let’s leave eastern Ukraine alone for a second and talk about Crimea, it’s gone hasn’t it, it’s gone?  It’s a fait accompli, we’ve seen images today of armoured personnel carriers crashing through the walls of one major base and I think there is a report suggesting this morning that a Russian defence minister says the Russian flag is now flying over 189 Ukrainian military installations in Crimea so the game’s up in Crimea isn’t it?

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY:  I would call it that the Crimea is occupied but it’s…

CB: You’re not going to get it back are you?

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: Well I am saying it is occupied and we have in history quite a number of places which were occupied and then the situation might have changed. 

CB: How would you characterise the response of the West overall?  There is a sense isn’t there that there is a division between the United States and the European Union for reasons that are abundantly clear, there are levers that Russia has that it can pull against Europe, particularly the Italians, the Germans, the French, that it can’t pull against America so there’s a difference in approach.   

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: There is a difference in approach, I would say that the United States is more resolute in their actions and in their even words but we do appreciate what Europe is doing, certainly we would have liked a quite more aggressive approach to this situation and if I’m asked if Europe has done enough I would say no.  . 

CB:  But if you’ve got an immediate financial crisis to deal with, haven’t you, with outstanding money that you owe and of course the gas that you’re getting at discounted rates, the money you are able to call upon, the exports you are able to send to Russia, that’s all gone.  

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: We do have quite a difficult economic situation but also we rely very heavily on the completion of the administrations with the International Monetary Fund.  We also appreciate the steps that are being made by the European Union in terms of giving Ukraine substantial financial assistance.  The gas prices will certainly go up and that will be yet another challenge that we will have to deal with but overall I think that we are not talking about the collapse of Ukraine’s economy, it is developing still in the middle of this acute financial and economic crisis.  

CB: The Russians of course still maintain that you are speaking here in London as a representative of an illegitimate government don’t they?  They say Viktor Yanukovych was elected fairly by the majority of people in an election that was observed by Western observers, it was free and fair and he has been ousted in a putsch, in a coup and you are a tribune for that illegitimate government.

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: I mean we all in Ukraine totally reject that.  It’s much more complicated, if you go into details how and when, hour by hour, who has left the country, who fled basically the country, then you understand that former President Yanukovych just fled the country and in the middle of a power vacuum and legitimate – I would like to emphasise – legitimate parliament elected the acting President and elected by the overwhelming majority, by 371 votes, the Prime Minister which everyone accepted as the legitimate Prime Minister of Ukraine.  

CB: Volodymyr Khandogiy, we appreciate you coming in this morning, thank you very much indeed.  

VOLODYMYR KHANDOGIY: Thank you.