 In addition, the Ukrainian flag was flown atop Parliament on 4 March.After the Crimean secession, Harper was the first Western leader to visit the new Ukrainian government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk the weekend of 22 March, and led the rest of the G8 partners at an ad-hoc meeting in Brussels on 24 March to suspend Russian membership, partially, said Harper because Russia had violated the Budapest Agreement

on the basis of an explicit Russian guarantee of (Ukrainian) territorial integrity.By breaching that guarantee, President Putin has provided a rationale for those elsewhere who needed little more than that already furnished by pride or grievance to arm themselves to the teeth.