Face-off between Russia, Ukraine troops in Crimea
10 March 2014 4:44 AM IST
The mood darkened in Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday after overnight confrontations between Russian troops and besieged Ukrainian soldiers raised tensions on the ground in the biggest East-West face-off since the Cold War.
Pressure levels have increased markedly in the two days since the region’s pro-Moscow leadership declared that it is now part of Russia and announced a 16 March referendum to confirm it.
President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory. So far, Russia’s seizure of the Black Sea peninsula has remained bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance.
Russian troops drove a truck into a missile defense post in Sevastopol, the home of both their Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian navy, and took control of it overnight. A Reuters reporting team at the scene said no-one was hurt.
Ukraine’s border service said Russian troops had also seized a border guard outpost in the east of the peninsula overnight, kicking the Ukrainian officers and their families out of their apartments in the middle of the night.
‘The situation is changed. Tensions are much higher now. You have to go. You can’t film here,’ said a Russian soldier carrying a heavy machine gun, his face covered except for his eyes, at a Ukrainian navy base in Novozernoye.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Saturday Poland had evacuated its consulate in Sevastopol due to ‘continuing disturbances by Russian forces’. About 100 armed Russians are keeping watch over the Ukrainians at the base, where a Russian ship has been scuttled at the entrance to keep the Ukrainians from sailing out.
‘Things are difficult and the atmosphere has got worse. The Russians threaten us when we go and get food supplies and point their guns at us,’ said Vadim Filipenko, the Ukrainian deputy commander at the base.
MANY HOTHEADS
Moscow denies that the Russian-speaking troops in Crimea are under its command, an assertion Washington dismisses as ‘Putin’s fiction’. Although they wear no insignia, the troops drive vehicles with Russian military plates and identify themselves as Russian troops to the besieged Ukrainian forces.
The United States has announced sanctions against individuals it blames for interfering with Ukrainian territorial integrity, although it has yet to publish the list. The European Union is also considering sanctions, although this may be much harder to organize for a 28-member bloc that must take decisions unanimously and depends on Russian natural gas.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave no indication of any softening of Moscow’s position on Saturday, insisting that the government in Kiev had been installed in an illegal coup.
Crimea’s pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov said the referendum on union with Russia - now due in a week - had been called so quickly to avert ‘provocation’.
‘There are many hotheads who are trying to create a destabilized situation in the autonomous republic of Crimea, and because the life and safety of our citizens is the most valuable thing, we have decided to curtail the duration of the referendum and hold it as soon as possible,’ he told Russian television.
Aksyonov, whose openly separatist Russian Unity political received just 4 per cent of the vote in Crimea’s last parliamentary election, declared himself provincial leader ten days ago after armed Russians seized the parliament building.
Pressure levels have increased markedly in the two days since the region’s pro-Moscow leadership declared that it is now part of Russia and announced a 16 March referendum to confirm it.
President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory. So far, Russia’s seizure of the Black Sea peninsula has remained bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance.
Russian troops drove a truck into a missile defense post in Sevastopol, the home of both their Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian navy, and took control of it overnight. A Reuters reporting team at the scene said no-one was hurt.
Ukraine’s border service said Russian troops had also seized a border guard outpost in the east of the peninsula overnight, kicking the Ukrainian officers and their families out of their apartments in the middle of the night.
‘The situation is changed. Tensions are much higher now. You have to go. You can’t film here,’ said a Russian soldier carrying a heavy machine gun, his face covered except for his eyes, at a Ukrainian navy base in Novozernoye.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Saturday Poland had evacuated its consulate in Sevastopol due to ‘continuing disturbances by Russian forces’. About 100 armed Russians are keeping watch over the Ukrainians at the base, where a Russian ship has been scuttled at the entrance to keep the Ukrainians from sailing out.
‘Things are difficult and the atmosphere has got worse. The Russians threaten us when we go and get food supplies and point their guns at us,’ said Vadim Filipenko, the Ukrainian deputy commander at the base.
MANY HOTHEADS
Moscow denies that the Russian-speaking troops in Crimea are under its command, an assertion Washington dismisses as ‘Putin’s fiction’. Although they wear no insignia, the troops drive vehicles with Russian military plates and identify themselves as Russian troops to the besieged Ukrainian forces.
The United States has announced sanctions against individuals it blames for interfering with Ukrainian territorial integrity, although it has yet to publish the list. The European Union is also considering sanctions, although this may be much harder to organize for a 28-member bloc that must take decisions unanimously and depends on Russian natural gas.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave no indication of any softening of Moscow’s position on Saturday, insisting that the government in Kiev had been installed in an illegal coup.
Crimea’s pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov said the referendum on union with Russia - now due in a week - had been called so quickly to avert ‘provocation’.
‘There are many hotheads who are trying to create a destabilized situation in the autonomous republic of Crimea, and because the life and safety of our citizens is the most valuable thing, we have decided to curtail the duration of the referendum and hold it as soon as possible,’ he told Russian television.
Aksyonov, whose openly separatist Russian Unity political received just 4 per cent of the vote in Crimea’s last parliamentary election, declared himself provincial leader ten days ago after armed Russians seized the parliament building.
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