Soldiers patrol outside the Simferopol International Airport
Russia was accused of “naked aggression” against Ukraine amid claims by the Kiev government that Moscow had sent helicopters and aircraft to the Crimean peninsula.
The United Nations Security Council was preparing to convene an emergency session in New York to discuss the growing crisis at the request of the Ukraine, which warned that its territorial integrity was being threatened.
A Ukrainian official told a Crimean television channel that 13 planes had landed at a military air base near Simferopol, carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops.
The country’s interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said: “I personally appeal to President Putin to immediately stop military provocation and to withdraw from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” describing Russian actions as “naked aggression”.
Earlier the Ukrainian foreign ministry said it had officially protested to Moscow over the “violation of Ukraine’s air space” after at least 10 Russian helicopters crossed the border.
Russian troops and armour backed by gunmen in unmarked uniforms fanned out across Crimea Friday morning, seizing two airports and other key installations in an apparent bid to assert Moscow’s dominance over the region.
Despite “grave” warnings from America not to intervene, soldiers and unidentified armed men deployed on Crimea’s main roads, and occupied key positions within ports and the region’s main television station.
Although no shots were fired and there were no reported injuries, Arsen Avakov, the new Ukrainian interior minister, said the sudden and unannounced Russian deployment amounted to a “military invasion and occupation” of his country’s territory.
A soldier rests atop a Russian armored personnel carriers near the town of Bakhchisarai
The Kremlin’s confrontation with Ukraine’s post-revolutionary government appeared to be entering a dangerous new phase as airspace over Crimea was closed to civilian flights. Simferopol International Airport, serving the regional capital, announced that all services from Kiev were suspended until at least 6.30pm Saturday.
Under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Russia is bound to “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine”. The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, urged Russia to keep this promise, adding: “Intervention would be a grave mistake.”
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said that America was watching to see if Russian military movements in Crimea “might be crossing a line in any way”.
Mr Kerry said that his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had assured him that Moscow’s forces were “not engaging in any violation of the sovereignty and do not intend to”. Mr Kerry added: “There are enough tensions that it is important for everybody to be extremely careful not to inflame the situation.”
In a day of dramatic developments, David Cameron spoke by phone to President Vladimir Putin to stress that “all countries should respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”. Britain and America are also signatories to the Budapest Memorandum. Downing Street said that Mr Putin had “agreed” with the Prime Minister.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet maintains a garrison of 25,000 military personnel inside Crimea at a base in the Crimean port of Sebastopol, which Moscow leases from Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry confirmed Friday that “armoured vehicles” from this base were moving within Crimea in order to protect what it called “fleet positions”. The ministry added that Ukraine’s government been given a “note” to this effect.
However, there had been no “bilateral consultations” because events in Crimea were the “result of recent internal political processes in Ukraine”.
In Kiev, the defence and interior ministries both declined to comment. A spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security Council said there was “no information” on whether this body had considered the situation in Crimea.
Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych during the press-conference
Meanwhile, Viktor Yanukovych, the deposed president, appeared in public for the first time since fleeing Kiev last Friday. Addressing a press conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, he described himself as the “elected president” of Ukraine and declared the “coup” against him had been “illegal”.
Mr Yanukovych backed a vote in Crimea’s regional parliament for a referendum on greater autonomy within Ukraine. “What is happening in Crimea is a natural reaction to the bandit revolution that has occurred in Kiev,” he said.
However, Mr Yanukovych added: “I think in this situation any military action is inadmissible, and I am not asking for military assistance [from Russia].”
As he spoke, armed men had taken up positions at key installations across Crimea, where 58 per cent of the population are Russian-speakers, many of them also ethnic Russians.
Men in unmarked camouflage uniforms occupied the civilian airport at Simferopol and Belbek air force base in Sebastopol. At dawn, roadblocks appeared on the highway that connects the two cities. A Russian warship was reported to have blockaded the entrance to the bay at Balaklava, the where Ukraine’s coastguard has its headquarters.
At least 20 men wearing the uniform of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were reported to have surrounded a Ukrainian customs post in Sebastopol. A serviceman who identified himself as a Black Sea Fleet officer told Reuters news agency that the aim was to avoid a “repeat of the Maidan”, referring to the square in central Kiev which became the focus of the revolution.
Numerous roadblocks were reported on key arteries, including the vital E97 and E105 highways, which cross the narrow land bridge linking Crimea with mainland Ukraine.
The several dozen men patrolling the car park and forecourt of the Simferopol airport carried AK-74 assault rifles and PK 7.62mm machine guns, and refused to answer questions.
At first, they made no apparent attempt to interfere with the running of the airport, although flights were suspended later. They strolled up and down the car park, apparently for the benefit of television cameras.
Civilian volunteers were also present, wearing the orange and black St George’s ribbon, a symbol of Russian military prowess that has been adopted by pro-Kremlin activists in Crimea.
”We are here for your safety,” said one man, who described himself as a member of the “people’s militia”. He ordered journalists away from the restaurant the troops had occupied. “If you don’t move away from this building, maybe someone will throw a grenade at you,” he said. “It is an unpredictable situation and we want to make sure everything remains calm.”
Another volunteer, who called himself Dmitry, said he was glad the soldiers were present because “we don’t want a repeat of what happened in Kiev”.
But Crimea’s Tatar community has backed the revolution in Kiev and fiercely opposed the notion of separatism or joining Russia.
Stalin deported the Tatars to Central Asia in 1944 for allegedly helping the Nazis. Many returned to Crimea after the Soviet Union’s fall, and they now comprise 13 per cent of the region’s population.
Culled from Telegraph UK
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