(CNN) – At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Monday to discuss the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin read a letter from ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, describing Ukraine as a country "on the brink of civil war," plagued by "chaos and anarchy."

The United States' ambassador accused Russia of breaking international law and responding to an "imaginary threat."

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul agrees.



"The allegations, the "threat," that his government sees there, there's no basis in reality for it. There has been no terrorists that have attacked anybody in Crimea. There's no Nazis threatening ethnic Russians," McFaul told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."

"That's complete fantasy," said McFaul, now a professor with Stanford University.

The international community must get monitors into Crimea, the southern part of Ukraine, "so that we can have a basis of a discussion of what is happening there, with some basic facts that we all share."

"What the Russians are saying is just simply not true. There's absolutely no supporting evidence to the claims that Ambassador Churkin just made," said McFaul.