U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made the comments after Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 combat troops on high alert for war games near Ukraine, Moscow’s boldest gesture since the ouster of ally Viktor Yanukovich as president in Kiev.

“For a country that has spoken out so frequently … against foreign intervention in Libya, in Syria, and elsewhere, it would be important for them to heed those warnings as they think about options in the sovereign nation of Ukraine,” Kerry told a small group of reporters at the U.S. State Department.

“I don’t think there should be any doubt whatsoever that any kind of military intervention that would violate the sovereign territorial integrity of Ukraine would be a huge – a grave mistake,” he added.

“If there were any kind of decision like that, I do not think that’s a cheap decision. I think it’s a very expensive decision.”

Kerry held out the possibility of providing $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees for Ukraine, as well as U.S. budget support for the former Soviet republic but said no decisions had been made. He said Europe was also considering putting up roughly $1.5 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

“We are formulating initially a $1 billion loan guarantee with some other pieces, but we are also looking at the possibility of additional assistance,” Kerry said. The Obama administration was discussing the matter internally, he said.

“I don’t think it’s enough to be heralding the advent of democracy and applaud the courage and conviction of the people who brought about this transition and then just not do anything. I think that is unconscionable,” he added.

Ukraine fell into political crisis last year when Yanukovich spurned a broad trade deal with the European Union and accepted a $15 billion Russian bailout that is now in question.

After weeks of popular protests and clashes between security forces and demonstrators, Yanukovich fled his Kiev office and Ukraine’s parliament voted to remove him from power on Friday.

‘ROCKY IV’

With Kiev desperate for cash as it charts a new future, U.S. officials have previously said Washington could provide some assistance in addition to an International Monetary Fund program which could go into effect after a new government is set up.

IMF officials told Reuters this week that one option under review to help prop up Ukraine’s ailing economy was a bailout that would include IMF money as well as bilateral loans and guarantees from governments.

U.S. officials from the White House on down said Russia must respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity as Moscow put combat troops on high alert for war games near its Western neighbor.

Earlier this month, a Kremlin aide warned that Moscow could intervene and accused Washington of breaching their 1994 treaty under which Russia removed Soviet nuclear weapons from Ukraine.

It is unlikely the United States and its allies in NATO would risk an outright military confrontation with Russia but such Russian rhetoric, ringing with echoes of the Cold War, underlines the high stakes in Ukraine, whose 46 million people and sprawling territory are caught in a geopolitical tug-of-war.

Kerry said Russia should respect the Ukrainian people’s desire for change and that they should not have to choose between relations with Europe and the United States on one hand and Russia on the other.

“This is not Rocky IV,” he said in a reference to a 1985 film pitting U.S. boxer Rocky Balboa played by Sylvester Stallone against a Soviet portrayed by Dolph Lundgren.

“It is not a zero sum game. We do not view it through the lens of East-West, Russia-U.S. or anything else,” Kerry added. DM

Photo: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to present officers, who were recently appointed to senior command positions, at the Kremlin in Moscow, November 19, 2013. REUTERS/Mikhail Metzel/RIA Novosti/Kremlin