Putin dismisses critics as Russia absorbs Crimea

MOSCOW – In a gilded Kremlin hall used by czars, Vladimir Putin redrew Russia's borders Tuesday by declaring the Crimean Peninsula part of the motherland — provoking a surge of emotion among Russians who lament the loss of empire and denunciations from Western leaders who called Putin a threat to the world.

In an ominous sign, a Ukrainian serviceman and a member of a local self-defense brigade were killed by gunfire in Crimea just hours after Putin's speech, the first fatalities stemming from the Russian takeover.

While Putin's action was hailed by jubilant crowds in Moscow and cities across Russia, Ukraine's new government called the Russian president a threat to the "civilized world and international security," and the U.S. and Europe threatened tougher sanctions against Moscow.

Vice President Joe Biden, meeting with anxious European leaders in Poland, denounced what he called "nothing more than a land grab."

"The world has seen through Russia's actions and has rejected the flawed logic," Biden said.

In an emotional 40-minute speech televised live from the Kremlin's chandeliered St. George hall, Putin said the time has come to correct a historical injustice and stand up to Western pressure by incorporating Crimea.

"In people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia," he declared.

"They tell us that we are violating the norms of international law. First of all, it's good that they at least remember that international law exists," Putin said, pointing at what he called the U.S. trampling of international norms in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

"Our Western partners led by the United States prefer to proceed not from international law, but the law of might in their practical policies," he said.

Often interrupted by raucous applause, Putin said the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine had been abused by the new Ukrainian government and insisted Crimea's vote to join Russia was legitimate and reflected its right for self-determination.

Denouncing what he called Western arrogance, hypocrisy and pressure, Putin warned that the West must drop its stubborn refusal to take Russian concerns into account.

He pointed at NATO's eastward expansion, the alliance's U.S.-led missile defense plans and, finally, the Western moves to pull Ukraine into its orbit. "If you push a spring too hard, at some point it will spring back," he said.

A Crimean police spokeswoman, Olga Kondrashova, said that a Ukrainian serviceman and a member of a local self-defense brigade were killed and two people were wounded.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk declared the violence showed the conflict "has gone from the political stage to the military by the fault of the Russians."

Thousands of Russian troops had overtaken Crimea two weeks before Sunday's hastily called referendum. Putin insisted the Russian troops were in Crimea under a treaty with Ukraine that allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops at its Black Sea fleet base in Crimea.

The West and Ukraine described the Crimean referendum as illegitimate and being held at gunpoint.

Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954, a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet breakup left the region part of Ukraine. Putin noted that both Russians and Crimea's majority ethnic Russian population see annexation as correcting a historic insult.