It actually represented big concessions on the part of Yanukovych. Nevertheless, the situation worsened and Yanukovych ran for his life. The opposition tore up the deal and seized power. Russia now has reason to question the legitimacy of the interim government.

In response to Russia's military move, U.S. President Obama said, "There will be costs," and his secretary of state talked tough about both economically and socially isolating Russia. Yet critics say all this talk in the end went nowhere. They seemed to have forgotten what the United States did to Grenada, the Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq. The sole super power really has no right to talk.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that national borders do not tidily coincide with ethnic, linguistic and religious patterns, as conservative columnist George Will correctly pointed out. Take Crimea, for example. It is officially an autonomous region within Ukraine. Nonetheless, it has its own parliament and, up until 1995, its own president. In that year, the presidency was abolished by the unilateral decree of the Ukrainian Rada, and troops from western Ukraine moved in.

Sixty percent of the population in Crimea is of ethnic Russian descent. It was Nikita Khrushchev who unilaterally handed it over to Ukraine in 1954. The Crimean people's desire to be free of Ukraine has never abated. In 2008, its Parliament voted to recognize the independence of Abhkazia and South Ossetia, two former Soviet autonomous regions which later became parts of Georgia. According to the principle of self-determination, which Woodrow Wilson regarded as "a universal right," the population of Crimea should be allowed a referendum to determine the course of their own future.

Three former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine have asked Ukraine to exercise restraint and leave an opening for Putin to back down. In contrast to this thinking, the White House and State Department want to act "decisively" to isolate and punish Russia. Most EU members, however, prefer to take the road of mediation and monitoring the situation in Ukraine, and resist any sanctions touted by the United States and U.K. Negotiations will be difficult, but also the only way out.

So far, neither Ukraine nor Russia is willing to fire the first shot. Putin has already stated Russia would use force only as a last resort. That gives one hope.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.h5a3.com/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.