| CNN | - |
Sevastopol,
Ukraine (CNN) -- Pro-Russian troops reportedly smash open the gates of a
Ukrainian base. Russia's navy traps Ukrainian ships.
Political, military standoff escalates in Ukraine's Crimea region
updated 10:47 PM EST, Fri March 7, 2014
Armed men believed to be Russian
military march in the village outside Simferopol, Ukraine, on Friday,
March 7. Ukrainian officials and Western diplomats accuse Russia of
sending thousands of troops into the Crimea region in the past week, a
claim Russia has denied. The crisis in the former Soviet republic has
revived concerns of a return to Cold War relationships. Follow the
evolving story on CNN's live blog.
HIDE CAPTION
Crisis in Ukraine
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Pro-Russian forces face off with Ukrainian troops at Crimea base
- NEW: Journalists are attacked by self-styled pro-Russian defense forces
- European observers turned back from entering Crimea by armed men for a second day
- Russian Parliament says it'll back Crimea separation vote despite sanctions threat
The crisis in Ukraine
took on a decidedly military flavor Friday as tensions flared between
Moscow and Kiev over control of Crimea, even as the world's diplomats
said conflict could be avoided.
Crimea, a self-governing
peninsula in southern Ukraine with an ethnic Russian majority and strong
cultural ties to Russia, has become the epicenter of a battle for
influence between Moscow, Kiev and the West since Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out of office by protesters who were
angered over his rebuff of a trade deal with the European Union in favor
of one with Russia.
In the days since
Yanukovych was ousted, thousands of Russian troops have surrounded
military bases and key infrastructure sites, and they have taken control
of border crossings.
Ukrainian pop star's emotional plea
Did the U.S. see the Crimea crisis coming?
Gunmen block OSCE monitors from Crimea
At the same time, a
political battle has been playing out between the two countries, with
Russia's Parliament on Friday giving its defiant support to Crimean
lawmakers who want to see their region split from Ukraine and join
Russia.
Political moves
The lawmakers' unanimous
call for a vote on separation prompted howls of outrage Thursday in the
United States and Europe and the threat of sanctions, including asset
freezes, visa bans and travel bans.
The delegation from the
Crimean Parliament, which said it would put the decision to a public
vote on March 16, headed to Moscow on Friday and got a very different
reaction.
Valentina Matvienko,
speaker of Russia's upper house of Parliament, told the Crimean
delegation it would "support and welcome" any decision made by the
Crimean people to become a part of Russia.
Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk condemned talk of a split.
"I want to warn
separatists and other traitors of the Ukrainian state who are trying to
work against Ukraine, any of your decisions taken is unlawful,
unconstitutional, and nobody in the civilized world is going to
recognize the results of the so-called referendum of the so-called
Crimean authorities," he said Friday.
Russia has denounced
Yanukovych's ouster as an illegitimate coup, and Russian President
Vladimir Putin has refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities.
Putin has insisted he has the right to use military force in Ukraine if necessary to protect ethnic Russians in Crimea.
But Ukrainian officials say no threat exists, and Putin is using it as a pretext to control the region.
U.S. President Barack Obama set out a potential solution to the crisis when he spoke to Putin on Thursday, the White House said.
The proposal includes
direct talks between Kiev and Moscow, the withdrawal of Russian forces,
international support for elections on May 25, and the presence of
international monitors to "ensure that the rights of all Ukrainians are
protected, including ethnic Russians," Obama said.
Crimean threat?
What has mostly been a
peaceful standoff in Crimea, with virtually no sign of Ukrainian
military movement, appeared to take a turn on Friday when pro-Russian
forces smashed open the gates of a Ukrainian base near Sevastopol that
controls airspace in southern Ukraine, Vitaly Onishenko, a deputy
commander at the base, told CNN.
Ukraine's military
spokesman initially said the forces were Cossacks, akin to Russian
paramilitary troops, but Onishenko later dismissed that claim and said
the forces were Russian and wore military uniforms with no insignia.
Ukrainian troops refused to surrender and barricaded themselves inside a control room, Onishenko said.
Outside the base,
self-styled Crimean defense forces, similar to local militias, attacked
journalists, he said. At least one person, believed to be a journalist,
was injured and taken to a hospital, he said.
The standoff at the base
eventually ended with the Russian-speaking forces pulling back to the
outside of the base, Onishenko said.
Ukrainian authorities
also reported that the Russian Black Sea Fleet sank a second of its own,
old ships at the entrance to Lake Donuzlav, an inlet on the western
coast of Crimea that is home to a Ukrainian naval base. Viktor
Shmihanovsky, vice commander of the base, told CNN that several
Ukrainian naval ships are now trapped inside.
Unidentified armed
troops also have blocked unarmed European military observers from
entering the country for the second straight day.
Masked men carrying
rifles and wearing camouflage uniforms stopped the 43 observers from the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a regional
security organization, at a checkpoint separating the mainland from the
Crimean peninsula, CNN's Matthew Chance said.
One man, speaking in Russian, said: "I've been ordered by the government of Crimea not to let anyone in."
And in signs that the
pro-Russian Crimean authorities are clamping down on dissent within the
peninsula, at least two Ukrainian channels, 1+1 and Channel 5, have been
blocked from broadcasting. The head of 1+1 told CNN that Russian state
TV outlet Channel One is now broadcasting on its frequency.
A Bulgarian freelance
journalist and his colleague also were assaulted while filming in
Simferopol, the regional capital. The journalist told CNN he was
wrestled to the ground, and a gun was put to his head.
The incident was captured on surveillance footage and aired on a Ukrainian TV channel, Hromadske TV.
The standoff has also
prompted neighboring countries and their allies to boost military
defenses, with the United States beefing up its number of fighter jets
in Lithuania and Poland.
The USS Truxton, a
guided-missile destroyer, was also heading to the Black Sea to join in
pre-planned military exercises with Romanian and Bulgarian forces.
Asset freezes, visa bans
Meanwhile, as the West
seeks to put the diplomatic squeeze on Russia, European Union nations
said they'll suspend some talks with Russia and have threatened travel
bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of a planned EU-Russia summit.
French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius told French public radio Friday that tougher measures are
planned if Moscow doesn't act to de-escalate the situation.
"And if another attempt
is made, then we would enter into something completely different -- that
is to say serious consequences for the relations between Europe and
Russia," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov warned against sanctions, saying in a statement that they
would "inevitably boomerang" on the United States.
But there's help on hand for the fledgling government in Kiev.
Ukraine's new government
and the EU have agreed to revive a trade deal and an aid package that
could bring $15 million to Ukraine.
CNN reporter told to stop broadcasting
Stopping Crimea from rejoining Russia
Ukrainians react to Crimea referendum
The International
Monetary Fund is also ready to help, the head of the agency's European
section said. NATO is willing to help Ukraine's military "modernize and
strengthen," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN's Becky
Anderson on Friday.
Such aid is desperately needed.
The Russian gas company,
Gazprom, has not received any payment from Ukraine in February,
according to the company's CEO, the Russian state news agency Itar-Tass,
reported Friday.
CEO Alexey Miller said Gazprom cannot give Ukraine gas for free, Itar-Tass reported.
Paralympic protest
Ukraine's Paralympic
team sent just one member to participate in the opening ceremony of the
Paralympic Games in the Russian city of Sochi, said Dmitry Bulatov,
Ukrainian minister of sports and youth.
The decision to boycott the ceremonies, with the exception of a single flag bearer, was made unanimously by the team, he said.
"This is how our team expresses protest against aggressors and occupants entering our land," Bulatov said.
Official delegations
from the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Canada and Poland
earlier announced plans not to attend the Games. Athletes from those
countries will still compete.
Map of Crimea
Muslim minority fears for safety
Russian speakers make up
about 60% of Crimea's population of more than 2 million, but around a
quarter are Ukrainian and 12% are Crimean Tatar, a predominately Muslim
minority. Neither of the latter two groups would welcome a switch to
Russian control.
A CNN crew met with
Crimean Tatars in the town of Bakhchisaray amid fears for their safety
that have reminded some of past oppression under the Soviet Union.
Many spent years in
exile -- in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan or other Soviet republics -- after
the Soviet Union deported them for supposedly collaborating with Adolf
Hitler.
"It is not legal," one
elderly man said. "We are the original nation of Crimea. Our Khan state
was here. Russia left us with no rights.
"We don't want to be with Russia, we want to be with Ukraine," he said.
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