| CNN | - |
Simferopol,
Ukraine (CNN) -- Russia accused far-right groups Monday of "conniving"
with the new authorities in Ukraine, as pro-Moscow forces consolidated
their hold on their neighbor's Black Sea peninsula.
Russia condemns 'lawlessness' in eastern Ukraine
updated 12:31 PM EDT, Mon March 10, 2014
People shout slogans during a
pro-Russia rally in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 9. Pro-Russian
forces have taken control of Ukraine's autonomous Crimean region,
prompting criticism from Western nations and the Ukrainian interim
government. The standoff has revived concerns of a return to Cold War
relations.
HIDE CAPTION
Crisis in Ukraine
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Intruders threaten eastern Ukrainian TV station, editor says
- Russia says far-right groups "conniving" with new authorities in Kiev
- Germany's Merkel tells Putin planned Crimea referendum illegal
- Ukrainian prime minister expected to arrive in the United States on Wednesday
U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon is "increasingly alarmed" by the crisis in Ukraine, he said
in a statement issued Monday. "I urge all sides to refrain from hasty
actions and provocative rhetoric," he added.
[Previous version, posted at 12:26 p.m. ET]
(CNN) -- Russia accused
far-right groups Monday of "conniving" with the new authorities in
Ukraine, as pro-Moscow forces consolidated their hold on their
neighbor's Black Sea peninsula.
In a statement, the
Russian Foreign Ministry condemned "lawlessness" in eastern Ukraine and
accused the West of being silent over violence and detentions taking
place against Russian citizens, such as one incident last week when it
said masked gunmen fired on and injured peaceful protesters.
The statement came a day
after German Chancellor Angela Merkel bluntly told Russian President
Vladimir Putin by phone the Moscow-backed referendum on whether Crimea
should join Russia is illegal and would violate Ukraine's constitution
if it goes ahead on March 16.
Putin has defended
breakaway moves by pro-Russian leaders in Crimea, where Russian forces
have been tightening their grip on a region that has been the epicenter
of a battle for influence among Moscow, Kiev and the West since
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster last month.
Pro-Russian forces last
week pushed into the autonomous region in a bloodless siege, prompting
criticism from Western nations and Ukraine's interim government.
Will Putin stop at Crimea?
Ukraine: 30,000 Russian troops in Crimea
Ripple effect of Ukraine crisis
Moscow has denounced the
events that led to Yanukovych's ouster as an illegitimate coup and has
refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, putting the two
countries on a collision course over control of Crimea, which has
longstanding ties to Russia and has thousands of Russian troops
stationed there.
Putin has said Russia has the right to protect Russians living in the former Soviet republic.
As tensions mount,
Ukraine's armed forces carried out training exercises to test their
readiness, the country's Defense Ministry said. Citing televised
comments made by Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh on Sunday, it said the
army however was not calling for full mobilization, as diplomacy was
still the preferred method to resolve the crisis.
Propaganda war
Earlier, Ukraine's
Defense Ministry said a group of about 20 pro-Russian activists from the
so-called Crimea self-defense squads had broken into the military
hospital in the region's main administrative city, Simferopol, and
thrown out its chief.
In a later statement, it
said the hospital chief was back at work after negotiations but added
the premises were being blockaded by the activists.
However a CNN team that
traveled to the hospital found it very quiet, with no one around. A
guard on duty said he had not heard or seen anything unusual and that
there was no senior official to speak with as Monday was a public
holiday.
In the course of the
rapidly changing events of the past week, a propaganda war over Ukraine
has quickly developed as each side seeks to strengthen its stance.
Scenes of
balaclava-wearing men without insignia patrolling streets or other
premises have now become a familiar sight in the region.
A second CNN team
traveled to Crimea's Bakhchisaray military base twice Monday, which by
the afternoon was under the control of armed masked men.
During the first visit,
the team was taken inside the base and spoke with the deputy commander.
But when it returned, it did not receive the same welcome.
The Ukrainian flag, which had been flying only three hours earlier, was gone.
Reports of
confrontations weren't limited to Crimea. In the eastern mainland
Ukrainian city of Lugansk, just a few kilometers west of the Russian
border, 50 to 60 people burst into an IRTA TV station building on
Monday, editor-in-chief Katerina Rakova said.
The intruders initially
threatened to burn the building if they weren't allowed to broadcast.
But they eventually left, warning that they would return if they are
dissatisfied with the station's news broadcasts, Rakova said.
Singing Soviet songs
On Sunday in Simferopol,
demonstrators waving Crimean and Russian flags clapped along to
Soviet-era songs as dancers from Russia's Black Sea fleet entertained
the crowd.
Because of language and history, one man at the rally told CNN, Russia and Crimea are already "brothers."
But not all Crimeans are
convinced. Across town, beneath a statue of Ukraine's most celebrated
poet, another crowd was much smaller and the mood much more somber.
Asked what he thought about the possibility of Crimea becoming part of Russia, one demonstrator shook his head.
"It will be very
complicated because of economics, and a lot of different nations live
here, not only Russians. ... Not all of the people want to be part of
Russia," he said. "It's kind of a show. Putin's show."
Elsewhere, in the
Crimean port of Sevastopol, another Ukrainian rally came under attack by
pro-Russian gangs who whipped and beat demonstrators.
Ukrainian PM to U.S.
Washington has warned
Moscow that any moves to annex Crimea would close the door to diplomacy.
On Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama rounded up world leaders to
demand Russia "de-escalate the situation."
Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will fly to the United States this week to discuss the crisis in Crimea.
On Tuesday, Yanukovych
will speak from the Russian town of Rostov, Russia's state-run Itar-Tass
news agency reported, citing sources close to Yanukovych.
Putin earlier this month
secured permission from his parliament to use military force to protect
Russian citizens in Ukraine. The move came within days after
Yanukovych's flight from the country. Yanukovych was ousted after three
months of protests against his decision to spurn a free trade deal with
the European Union and turn toward closer ties with Moscow.
The referendum on
whether the Crimean Peninsula should join Russia has become the focus of
the Ukraine crisis. Yatsenyuk has called it "an illegitimate decision."
"If there is an
annexation of Crimea, if there is a referendum that moves Crimea from
Ukraine to Russia, we won't recognize it, nor will most of the world,"
U.S. deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said on CNN's "State
of the Union" on Sunday.
"So I think you'd see,
if there are further steps in the direction of annexing Crimea, a very
strong, coordinated international response."
CNN's Stephanie Halasz, Clare Sebastian,
Diania Magnay, Alla Eshchenko, Claudia Rebaza, Arkady Irshenko, Azadeh
Ansari, Catherine E. Shoichet and journalist Azad Safarov contributed to
this report
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