Russia Will settle for Crimea Peninsula, "No Intention" of Further Ukraine Incursion - Russian Lavrov

After the US president Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin telephone conversations in the early hour of today, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said on Saturday that Russia  had "no intention" of invading eastern Ukraine. This is response  to Western warnings over a military buildup on the border following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Lavrov, while speaking on Russian television, echoed  a message from President Vladimir Putin that Russia would settle - at least for now - for control over Crimea despite massing thousands of troops near Ukraine's eastern border. 

"We have absolutely no intention of - or interest in - crossing Ukraine's borders," Lavrov said.

But he insisted that Russia federation was ready to protect the rights of Russian speakers, referring to what Moscow sees as threats to the lives of compatriots in eastern Ukraine since Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich was deposed as president in February.

The US and the West imposed sanctions on Russia, including visa bans for some of Putin's inner circle, after Moscow annexed Crimea this month following a referendum on union of the Russian-majority region with the Russian Federation which the West said was illegal.

The United Nations also voted overwhelmingly to call the Crimea referendum and its eventual annexation, illegal.

EU has threatened tougher sanctions targeting Russia's stuttering economy if Moscow sends more troops to Ukraine. 

U.S. officials said as many as 40,000 may be massed near the border. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, said the alliance was "extremely worried". "We view it as a concrete threat to Ukraine and see the potential for further interventions," said Rasmussen, who is due to leave the post in October.

"I fear that it is not yet enough for him (Putin). I am worried that we are not dealing with rational thinking as much as with emotions, the yearning to rebuild Russia's old sphere of influence in its immediate neighbourhood."

Meanwhile, there was also a bid for regional devolution within Crimea. Its Tatar community, an indigenous minority who were persecuted under Soviet rule and largely boycotted last month's referendum on joining Russia, want autonomy on the Black Sea peninsula, the Tatar leader said on Saturday.