U.S. Official Tells CNN Russian Entry into Crimea ‘Was Uncontested Arrival’

‘What this has done now is give Russia three legs to stand on’

BLITZER: "Listen -- and it's a simple question, I don't know if the answer is simple, Barbara -- has Russia invaded Ukraine?"
STARR: "Well that is the question. Has Putin made his move to take over Crimea? What I can tell you, Wolf, is that he U.S. assessment at this point is that this arrival of Russian military forces -- and that is what they're calling it -- the U.S. assessment is, it was an uncontested arrival. So that may not be an invasion, that may be a very sympathetic population in Crimea that was quite willing to support these Russian troops landing there. What this has done now, it's given Russia three legs on which to operate. Perhaps several hundred ground troops, perhaps as many as 2,000. The U.S. has no reason to doubt those claims. So they have ground troops, they have air transport -- they came in by airplane -- and they have the naval forces at Sevastopol with that naval infantry unit -- essentially the same as U.S. Marines -- providing that third leg. The question will be, of course, where does Russia go from here, what do they do next? Right now, it looks like they have established their base of operations in Crimea. The U.S. -- I think a really important thing here is the U.S. assessment that Russian military forces have landed uncontested is very key. This is not a conflict in this area of Crimea with the Russian-supported population. So where this all goes now remains to be seen. How quickly will the opposition to the Russian presence develop in Crimea, how long will the Russians stay, and what will they do next? How -- how and when and will they leave? Wolf?"

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