‘Russians’ open fire in Crimea as they take control of a naval base

A pro-Russian force opened fire in seizing a Ukrainian military base in Crimea on Monday and NATO announced reconnaissance flights along its eastern frontiers as confrontation around the Black Sea peninsula showed no sign of easing.

Ukrainian activists trying to cross into Crimea to show solidarity with opponents of last week’s Russian military takeover there said they were halted by men in uniforms of the now outlawed riot police. One of these fired at close range, hitting a man in the chest, apparently with rubber bullets.

With diplomacy at a standstill, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, though Washington later said a meeting of foreign ministers was possible this week, if Moscow shows it is ready to “engage”.

The U.S.-led NATO defence alliance said AWACS early warning aircraft, once designed to counter feared Soviet nuclear missile strikes, will start reconnaissance flights on Tuesday over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in Ukraine, flying from bases in Germany and Britain.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told Germany’s Bild newspaper, however, that Western powers were not considering military action and wanted a diplomatic solution. European Union governments are considering sanctions against Russia.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, who said he would address the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, blamed the crisis on Russia and accused Moscow of undermining the global security system by taking control of Crimea.

Ukraine’s new justice authorities issued warrants for the arrest of Crimea’s pro-Russia leaders on Monday, six days before a referendum they have called to join the region to Russia.

Russian forces have in little more than a week taken over military installations across Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Russian territory until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954.

Pro-Russian separatists have taken control of the regional parliament, declared Crimea part of the Russian Federation and announced the referendum for Sunday to confirm this.

President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is acting to protect the rights of ethnic Russians, who make up a majority of Crimea’s population, after Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich was ousted last month in what Russia calls a coup.

On Monday, a Ukrainian defence official said a Russian-led military force of about a dozen men fired in the air as they took control of a Ukrainian naval base near the town of Bakhchisaray, though no one was hurt.

The force was accompanied by the base’s Ukrainian commander. He persuaded a number of his men to join the Russian forces while allowing others who refused to leave, the Ukrainian official, Vladislav Seleznyov wrote on Facebook. The Russian force later drove off with nine Ukrainian vehicles.

Yarik Alexandrov, one of the Ukrainian naval personnel who refused to pledge allegiance to Moscow, told reporters near the base that he and his comrades at first refused to surrender: “Then they started shooting round our feet and we surrendered,” he said. “What could we do? We had no weapons.”

Similar small confrontations have taken place at other Ukrainian bases around Crimea, though shooting has been rare and there has so far been no bloodshed. Russia denies its troops are involved – a stance ridiculed in Kiev and the West.

In a sign of the peninsula’s growing isolation from the Ukrainian mainland, armed men prevented a convoy of cars from a Ukrainian activist group crossing into Crimea.

The group was part of the Maidan movement behind the protests which forced Yanukovich to flee to Russia. Ukrainian television showed men in the uniform of the Berkut riot police, banned by the new authorities for its role in shooting dozens of demonstrators in Kiev last month, blocking the road south.

One was shown firing twice, hitting a man in the chest. His injuries appeared minor, suggesting the use of rubber bullets.

In other armed action, Russian forces took over a military hospital and a missile unit. Reuters correspondents also saw a big Russian convoy on the move just outside the port city of Sevastopol near a Ukrainian air defence base.

It comprised more than 100 vehicles, including around 20 armoured personnel carriers, plus mobile artillery.

Putin says Russia is not controlling events in Crimea but denials of Russian involvement are rejected by the United States as the two former Cold War enemies wage a geopolitical battle over the future of Crimea and Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin that Russia’s position on Ukraine remained at odds with the West, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had declined an invitation to visit Russia on Monday for further talks.

“It is all being formulated as if there was a conflict between Russia and Ukraine … and our partners suggested using the situation created by a coup as a starting point,” Lavrov told Putin during talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

He did not say why Kerry had postponed the talks.

The State Department said Kerry told Lavrov on Saturday that Washington wanted Moscow to cease its drive to annex Crimea and end “provocative steps”. In a statement, it added: “Kerry made clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov that he would welcome further discussions focused on how to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine if and when we see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on these proposals.”

In Kiev, Yatseniuk said he would address the United Nations Security Council during a debate on Ukraine. He is also due to hold talks with the U.S. government which will show Washington’s support of the new Ukrainian leadership.

“Russia’s policy is aimed at undermining the basis of the global security system and revising the outcome of World War Two,” Interfax quoted Yatseniuk as telling reporters.

Western powers have rallied behind Ukraine’s new leaders and on Monday the World Bank said it planned to provide up to $3 billion this year to see Kiev through an economic crisis.

Ukraine’s crisis was triggered in November by Yanukovich’s refusal, under Russian pressure, to sign deals on closer political and trade ties with the European Union.

Although three months of protests against Yanukovich were mostly peaceful, at least 80 demonstrators were killed in clashes after police used force against them, some by sniper fire.

Yanukovich fled Ukraine before a peace deal with the opposition was implemented, and a new national unity government was installed. He is wanted for mass murder in Ukraine and is being sheltered by Russia.

Western countries have denounced the Russian intervention in Crimea and say the borders of Ukraine, a country of 46 million, should remain unchanged. They have said they will not accept the outcome of Sunday’s vote.

“The United States is not prepared to recognise any result of the so-called referendum taking place in six days’ time,” U.S. ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said in Kiev. “We are committed to Crimea’s status as part of Ukraine. The crisis needs to be solved diplomatically, not militarily.”

Russian forces take control of Crimea airports in ‘armed invasion’

The prospect of a full-scale Russian military intervention in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula mounted on Saturday, as the region’s new prime minister asked for Vladimir Putin’s assistance and a Kremlin source said it would “not leave unnoticed” the request.

The pro-Russian prime minister of the region asked for Moscow’s assistance in keeping the peace and claimed he had control of all military, police and other security services.

The call by Sergei Aksenov came after armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications centre in Crimea on Friday, and Ukraine accused Russia of a “military invasion and occupation”.

In the reply the Russian foreign ministry said it was “extremely concerned” about the recent developments in Crimea, which it said confirmed the desire of Kiev’s politicians to destabilise the situation on the peninsula.

The foreign ministry also accused pro-Kiev gunmen of attempting to take over the interior ministry headquarters in the region, claiming several injuries had occurred.

“In Russia, we are extremely concerned about the recent developments in Crimea,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We believe it is extremely irresponsible to further pressure the already tense situation in the Crimea.”

In the escalating war of words between Kiev and Moscow, Ukraine’s defence minister, Ihor Tenyukh, accused Russia of having “recently” brought 6,000 additional personnel into Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military were on high alert in the Crimea region.

The Crimean peninsula is home to a key Russian strategic naval base for the Black Sea fleet which it leases from Ukraine under an agreement.

Russian officials claimed on Friday that military movements in the region were covered by that agreement – a claim denied by Kiev.

The latest statements from both sides in the crisis follow mounting concern in the west, which on Friday prompted a statement from the US president, Barack Obama. Obama warned Moscow on Friday “there will be costs” if it intervenes militarily.

His comments came after the British foreign secretary, William Hague, announced he would travel to Kiev on Sunday for talks with the new government there.

The latest escalation of tension in Ukraine, where Viktor Yunukovych was deposed as president a week ago following mass demonstrations in whicvh more than 80 people died, came after armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications centre in Crimea on Friday.

Ukraine’s population is divided in loyalties between Russia and the west, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support.

Crimea, a south-eastern peninsula of Ukraine that has semi-autonomous status, was seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great. It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.

Moscow has taken a confrontational stance toward its southern neighbour after pro-Russian Yanukovych fled the country.

Aksenov, the head of the main pro-Russia party on the peninsula, said in his statement that he appealed to Putin “for assistance in guaranteeing peace and calmness on the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea.”

Aksenov was appointed by the Crimean parliament on Thursday after pro-Russian gunmen seized the building and as tensions soared over Crimea’s resistance to the new authorities in Kiev, who took power last week.

 

President Obama warns Moscow “there will be costs” if Russia intervenes …

Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of sending thousands of additional troops to the southern Crimea region, which has a majority ethnic Russian population, and said it had placed its military in the area on high alert.

Russia said unidentified gunmen sent by Kiev had attempted overnight to seize the Crimea region’s Interior Ministry offices and that people had been wounded in the attack. It accused Kiev of a “treacherous provocation”.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk urged Moscow to cease what it called provocative actions, echoing a warning by U.S. President Barack Obama who said any military intervention following the overthrow of Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich would have costs for Moscow.

Armed men wearing combat uniform with no identification markings control two airports in Crimea, which hosts Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and have taken over the regional parliament in what Kiev described as an occupation by Moscow’s forces.

“It is unacceptable when armoured Russian military vehicles are out in the centre of Ukrainian towns,” Yatseniuk said at the start of a government meeting in Kiev.

“We do not give in to provocative actions, we do not use force and we demand that Russia stop its provocative actions and return the troops to base.”

Russia says any movements by its military in Crimea are in line with agreements with Ukraine in the lease of the naval base in the port city of Sevastopol and accused Kiev of trying to destabilise the Black Sea peninsula.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Kiev-backed gunmen had attempted to take over the offices of the Crimean Interior Ministry. It said people had been wounded but gave no details. There was no confirmation of such an action from other sources.

“With decisive actions by self-defense groups, the attempt to seize the interior ministry building was averted. This confirms the desire of prominent political circles in Kiev to destabilise the peninsula,” it said in a statement.

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, said on Friday that Russia was following a scenario like the one before it went to war with fellow former Soviet republic Georgia in 2008 over two breakaway regions. The regions are now fully beyond the control of Tbilisi.

Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh told Saturday’s government meeting that Russia had “recently” brought 6,000 additional personnel into Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military were on high alert in the Crimea region.

Several military transport planes and about 10 military helicopters had entered Ukrainian airspace on Friday without permission, he said.

The crisis, which began after Yanukovich triggered protests by spurning a political and trade deal with the European Union, is stoking tensions in a geopolitical battle between East and West that has echoes of the Cold War.

“We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,” Obama told reporters in Washington.

“The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.”

Any violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would be “deeply destabilising,” he said.

Obama and European leaders would consider skipping a G8 summit this summer in the Russian city of Sochi if Moscow intervened militarily, a senior U.S. official said.

The G8 includes the world’s seven leading industrial nations and Russia. Putin considers hosting such events as a way to show how far Russia has come since the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991.

Washington’s relations with Moscow are already cool because of differences over the conflict in Syria, Putin’s record on human rights and Russia’s decision to harbour former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The removal of Yanukovich from power has been accepted across Ukraine, even – grudgingly – in the eastern, mainly Russian-speaking regions that were his powerbase. But the new Ukrainian leader, Turchinov, faces a challenge in Crimea, the only region in the country that has an ethnic Russian majority.

Crimea was a Russian territory in the communist Soviet Union before Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gifted it to Soviet Ukraine in 1954. Some ethnic Russians want Russia to reclaim it now.

In a sign of defiance, Sergei Aksyonov, the pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea, has put himself in charge of all military forces, police and other security services in the region.

He has appealed to Putin for “assistance in guaranteeing peace and calm” there and Interfax news agency quoted a Kremlin source as saying the appeal would be considered by Moscow.

Gunmen took over the regional parliament in Crimea on Thursday, and have controlled the main international airport in Simferopol, the main regional centre, and a military airfield near Sevastopol since Friday.

A representative of Acting President Turchinov said 13 Russian aircraft had landed with 150 personnel on each plane.

A local television station reported that another military aerodrome had been taken over by armed men overnight, but the report was not independently confirmed.

Phone lines have been severed in some areas and witnesses say they have seen armoured personnel carriers on the move.

There has been no bloodshed and no military clashes since Yanukovich’s flight from Kiev last week although Ukraine’s leaders say about 100 were killed, some by police snipers, during protests in Kiev that began last November.

Yanukovich, 63, resurfaced in southern Russia on Friday after a week on the run, defiantly telling a packed room of journalists that he was still leader of the sprawling former Soviet republic of 46 million.

“Russia cannot be indifferent, cannot be a bystander watching the fate of as close a partner as Ukraine,” Yanukovich told a news conference. “Russia must use all means at its disposal to end the chaos and terror gripping Ukraine.”

Putin has said nothing in public about the crisis since Yanukovich was ousted a week ago.

A Kremlin statement this week offered conciliatory remarks about international cooperation over heavily indebted Ukraine but Russian officials have blamed the crisis on the West and accused it of meddling in what Moscow considers its back yard. Loss of influence in Ukraine is a bitter blow for Putin.

Moves are under way, however, to prop up Ukraine’s economy. The new Ukrainian leadership has said the country needs about $35 billion over the next two years to stave off bankruptcy.

It said on Friday it hoped to get financial aid soon and was prepared to fulfil the reform criteria of the International Monetary Fund, which will visit Kiev next week.

The fate of a $15-billion Russian bailout package is unclear, with only about $3 billion of it released so far.