Western nations line up at UN to slam Russia's moves on Ukraine - Reuters

(Reuters) - Western nations on Sunday accused Russia of massing tens of thousands of well-equipped troops near the Ukrainian border in preparation for a Crimea-style invasion, while Russia denounced what it said was Ukraine's Russophobic, anti-Semitic leadership.

"Satellite images show that there are between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, equipped with combat aircraft, tanks, artillery and logistical support units," Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

"This is in addition to the 25,000 Russia troops based illegally in Crimea," Lyall Grant added in his speech during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud echoed Lyall Grant's remarks.

The meeting of the 15-nation council, the first emergency session on the Ukrainian crisis in weeks, was convened at Russia's request. Council diplomats said Moscow wanted it to be a closed meeting by France and other Western insisted that it be a public session.

The council has held numerous emergency meetings on Ukraine but has been incapable of taking concrete action because of Russia's sharp disagreements with the United States and Europe.

Last month Russia vetoed a Western draft resolution that would have condemned Crimea's referendum on secession from Ukraine, held when it was already occupied by Russian military forces.

As expected, the council took no action on Sunday.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin dismissed the criticisms of Russia's actions in Ukraine, telling the council, "Many inaccurate accusations were made against Russia."

He blamed the Kiev government for the unrest across southeastern Ukraine and described its threatened military operation in the region as a "criminal use of force." He was referring to Ukraine's ultimatum to pro-Russian separatists to disarm by Monday or face armed force.

"Things might take an irreversible turn for the worst," Churkin said about the ultimatum, without elaborating.

"The authorities (in Ukraine) do not want to listen to those who do not accept the imposed dominance in Kiev of national radicals and chauvinists, Russophobic, anti-Semitic forces," he said. "The grotesque Russophobia and embedded hatred has become the norm in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) as well."

CHOREOGRAPHED IN RUSSIA?

Kiev has repeatedly said the rebellions across Ukraine are inspired and directed by the Kremlin. But action to dislodge the armed militants risks tipping the stand-off into a new, dangerous phase as Moscow has warned it will protect the region's Russian-speakers if they come under attack.

One Ukrainian state security officer was killed and five were wounded on the government side in Sunday's operation in Slaviansk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power suggested that Russia was dissembling about its true intentions in eastern Ukraine, where many Russian-speakers live.

"You have heard these last weeks Russia disclaim any intention of occupying or invading," she said. "You have heard it publicly, and we have heard it privately."

"Unfortunately, the fact is that the armed seizure of buildings in six eastern Ukrainian towns yesterday and several more today mirrors the tactics Russian forces used in the early stages of the Crimea invasion," Power said, adding that the instability "was written and choreographed in, and by, Russia".

Ukraine's envoy, Yuriy Sergeyev, echoed the remarks of Power and other Western envoys, noting that the troops massing near Ukraine were "obviously the professional special forces". He also said, "We don't want any clashes."

Lithuanian Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite spoke of Russia's "unending provocations" and attempts to dismember Ukraine.

"Where there was no unrest, unrest and chaos are being created by pro-Russian militias, again anonymous without insignia, again carrying the same modern models of assault weapons as seen in Crimea," Murmokaite said.

"Again the external anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western propaganda machine is in full swing, inciting suspicion, mistrust and hatred waiting to explode," she added.

No country on the council spoke out strongly in Russia's defense. Moscow's traditional ally and fellow veto power on the Security Council, China, merely called for all parties in Ukraine to "keep calm and exercise restraint."

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Obama's new health secretary nominee draws early Republican fire - Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) applauds after announcing Director of the Office of Management and Budget Sylvia Mathews Burwell (2nd R) as his nominee to replace outgoing U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (R), during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, April 11, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's new nominee for health secretary drew some early political fire from Republicans on Sunday in what could foreshadow a stormy election-year confirmation debate in the U.S. Senate over the future of the law known as Obamacare.

Two days after Obama nominated his budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Republican lawmakers alleged the new nominee could help the White House exert political control over Obamacare enrollment numbers and other data showing how well the reforms are working.

After a disastrous launch last year, the administration's enrollment drive has surpassed the most optimistic independent forecasts by signing up 7.5 million people in private health plans through new online insurance marketplaces.

That number is expected to grow and could approach the 8 million mark as applicants who were unable to complete the process by the March 31 deadline continue to sign up through federal and state-run marketplaces.

The results present a challenge for Republicans, who claim Obamacare is a failure that Americans should reject. They maintain that the actual number of enrollees could be much smaller than the administration's total and many have signed up for Obamacare plans because their original coverage was canceled as a result of the law.

"Burwell is an interesting choice. They know they've got a math problem with Obamacare and the numbers are not going to work out so that the program is actuarially sound," Representative Marsha Blackburn said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program.

"They're going to have to have somebody to kind of spin the numbers and this is something ... I think they're expecting her to be able to do for them," added Blackburn, a senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees healthcare issues.

TOUGHER FIGHT IN SENATE?

Burwell, who would succeed outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as the public face of Obamacare, needs to be confirmed by the Senate before she can start the job. She sailed through the Senate last year for her current job as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with a 96-0 confirmation vote.

But Republicans say things may not be so easy this time.

"There is no doubt she was a good choice for OMB. That does not necessarily make her a good choice for HHS," Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina told "Fox News Sunday."

"Will the next secretary have Americans' (interests) first, or will they have the administration's policies and try to carry the water for the president?" he said.

"We are going to have an opportunity to discuss with Director Burwell her approach to making sure that the American people are the primary objective and not politics," Scott added.

Republicans hope to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats in November's midterm elections and see Obamacare's unpopularity as a key lever for attracting independent swing voters and turning out their own base.

But the strong enrollment results have revived Obama's fellow Democrats, who now hope the impending change in leadership at HHS will begin a new chapter for the law and help stave off blistering Republican attacks.

"It probably is a good thing to have a new face going forward," Democratic U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said on "Fox News Sunday."

Sebelius, whose tumultuous five-year term became overshadowed by last year's botched rollout, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she made the decision to step down and told Obama in March, after the enrollment effort had bounced back and was meeting its targets.

"The site actually worked, and the great thing is there's a market behind the site that works even better. People have competitive choices and real information for the first time ever in this insurance market," she said.

Blackburn scoffed at the idea that Sebelius' resignation would quell Republican opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"No, it's not going to quiet the controversy, I think it's quite the opposite," the Tennessee Republican said. "What it has done is to elevate some of the concerns."

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Sarah Lynch; Editing by Jim Loney and Meredith Mazzilli)

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