Russian gunmen on the Crimean peninsula and the embattled new Ukrainian government in Kiev continued to escalate a dangerous confrontation Sunday, with both sides mobilizing armed forces and warning that the other was provoking war.
Hundreds of armed
Russians surrounded Kremlin military installations in Crimea, where
Moscow leases Soviet-era bases from what is now independent Ukraine. The
men, called up from retirement or inactive status with Russia’s Black
Sea fleet, sported black-and-orange ribbons celebrating the Soviet
victory in World War II or red armbands identifying themselves as
“volunteers of the autonomous republic of Crimea.”
The motley reserves joined thousands of professional Russian troops activated by Moscow in Crimea over the past three days in a defiant challenge to the interim government that has taken power in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, since deposed ex-President Viktor Yanukovich fled on Feb. 21 and took refuge in Russia.
Crimean government leader Sergei Aksenov, installed Thursday during a parliamentary session in Simferopol held while the building was occupied by masked Russian gunmen, reiterated Sunday that he was in command of all security and military forces in Crimea and was determined to protect the Russian population and military installations from “radicals” and "bandits" sent from Kiev.
In a broadcast carried by Rossiya-24 television, Aksenov reminded Russian forces deployed in Crimea of their "responsibility to defend and protect Russian people and interests."
Hundreds of the mobilized civilians and Russian troops surrounded a military base in Privolnoye, spurring outcries in Kiev and western Ukraine that Moscow was trying to provoke war.
After a closed session of parliament, Yatsenyuk said Ukraine was "on the brink of national disaster" and urged Putin to pull back Russian forces to their bases, saying the Kremlin chief surely didn't want to be "the president who starts war between two friendly and neighboring countries," but was inches away from doing so.
Ukrainian reservists were also activated Sunday to bolster regular armed forces that even Kiev’s interim defense minister, Ihor Tenyuh, has conceded are outnumbered and outflanked by Russia’s forces, which were given a green light by the upper house of the Russian parliament Saturday to deploy to Ukraine if President Vladimir Putin judges that Russian citizens or military assets are threatened.
Read more: Russia and Ukraine mobilize, raising tensions in Crimea - latimes.comThe motley reserves joined thousands of professional Russian troops activated by Moscow in Crimea over the past three days in a defiant challenge to the interim government that has taken power in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, since deposed ex-President Viktor Yanukovich fled on Feb. 21 and took refuge in Russia.
Crimean government leader Sergei Aksenov, installed Thursday during a parliamentary session in Simferopol held while the building was occupied by masked Russian gunmen, reiterated Sunday that he was in command of all security and military forces in Crimea and was determined to protect the Russian population and military installations from “radicals” and "bandits" sent from Kiev.
In a broadcast carried by Rossiya-24 television, Aksenov reminded Russian forces deployed in Crimea of their "responsibility to defend and protect Russian people and interests."
Hundreds of the mobilized civilians and Russian troops surrounded a military base in Privolnoye, spurring outcries in Kiev and western Ukraine that Moscow was trying to provoke war.
After a closed session of parliament, Yatsenyuk said Ukraine was "on the brink of national disaster" and urged Putin to pull back Russian forces to their bases, saying the Kremlin chief surely didn't want to be "the president who starts war between two friendly and neighboring countries," but was inches away from doing so.
Ukrainian reservists were also activated Sunday to bolster regular armed forces that even Kiev’s interim defense minister, Ihor Tenyuh, has conceded are outnumbered and outflanked by Russia’s forces, which were given a green light by the upper house of the Russian parliament Saturday to deploy to Ukraine if President Vladimir Putin judges that Russian citizens or military assets are threatened.
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