Wednesday 19 March 2014 14.47 Pro-Moscow militants who seized the Ukrainian navy's headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol together with Russian forces say they have "taken away" the head of the Ukrainian navy Sergiy Gayduk.
A representative of the Russian forces Igor Yeskin said: "He was blocked and he had nowhere to go. He was forced out and he has been taken away."
Around a dozen Ukrainian servicemen, unarmed and in civilian clothes, walked out of the naval headquarters after it was taken over by pro-Russian forces.
The peaceful handover of military facilities to Moscow's control has been a major concern after one Ukrainian was killed in a shooting at a military facility in Crimea's main city, Simferopol, yesterday.
Ukraine's Defence Ministry said pro-Russian forces used a tractor to ram through the gate of the navy base seizing control of the entrance.
"Russian soldiers" then halted their advance, said Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman.
A report on Russia's state news agency ITAR-TASS said the activists had raised a Russian flag over the naval headquarters.
The report said the activists had been protesting outside the navy base and then broke in by cutting through the fence.
It comes after Russian politicians set out plans to ratify a treaty making Ukraine's Crimea region part of Russia later this week, despite threats of further sanctions from the United States and European Union.
President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty with the Russian-backed leaders of Crimea yesterday, pressing ahead with an annexation that Washington, Brussels and Ukraine's new government say is illegal and unacceptable.
"My colleagues will exert the maximum efforts to ratify the agreement by Friday," Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy speaker of the State Duma lower house of parliament, said at a meeting attended by the Crimean leaders.
Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin said: "Brothers and sisters, welcome home to Russia."
The Crimean leaders were greeted as heroes.
Bouquets decked the room and deputies wore black-and-orange ribbons symbolising pride in the Russian military, and in particular the Soviet victory in World War II.
"After 1991, Russia was constantly losing - it lost its territory, its people. And now, for the first time, we are returning our territory and our compatriots," Mr Naryshkin said, referring to the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.
The treaty says Crimea is considered part of Russia from the day of its signing but that it enters into force when it is ratified.
Russia also plans to adopt legislation making Crimea one of its constituent regions.
Earlier, Russia's Defence Ministry said that the signatories of a 2011 Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe agreement had exhausted their quotas to inspect Russian military facilities and a planned inspection in the coming days would be the last.
"This is the last inspection held on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2014 under the Vienna Document because all quotas for inspections on our territory by OSCE states have been exhausted," Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the national nuclear risk reduction centre, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
He said Ukrainian inspectors would carry out the last checks.
Meanwhile, the White House has condemned Mr Putin's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and said it was preparing a fresh round of sanctions in response to the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
"More is coming," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, a day after the United States imposed sanctions on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials.
As the United States and European allies seek coordinated responses to pressure Russia, US President Barack Obama and the leaders of the other Group of Seven economies scheduled a meeting in The Hague next week to discuss Ukraine on the fringes of an already scheduled nuclear security summit.
In a statement, the White House said the G7 meeting would focus on further steps that the grouping may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine.
Mr Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone about Ukraine, and a White House statement said both leaders agreed to stress to Mr Putin that a diplomatic path remains for resolving the crisis.
Mr Obama and Ms Merkel spoke after Mr Putin signed a treaty claiming the Black Sea region of Crimea as Russian territory, and as Ukraine warned the showdown had entered a "military stage" after soldiers were killed on both sides.
Russia's move, less than three weeks after pro-Moscow troops first seized control of the strategic peninsula, was slammed by Western leaders.
"The one-sided declaration of Crimea's independence and the absorption into the Russian Federation that started today are unacceptable blows against the territorial integrity of Ukraine," German spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
Mr Merkel and Ms Obama agreed that the "so-called" referendum on secession held in Crimea on Sunday breached Ukraine's constitution and international law, Mr Seibert added.
In a statement issued by the White House the leaders warned "there would be costs" for Russia's moves.
"They agreed it was vital to send international monitors from the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations to southern and eastern Ukraine immediately," the statement said.
However, both Berlin and Washington said there was room for negotiations to de-escalate the situation.
"Both leaders agreed to continue to underscore to Russian President Putin that there remains a clear path for resolving this crisis diplomatically, in a way that addresses the interests of both Russia and the people of Ukraine," the White House statement said.
Ukrainian officials to fly to Crimea
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk issued an order today for the first deputy prime minister and the acting defence minister to fly to Crimea to "resolve the situation" in the region now controlled by Russian forces.
A senior minister told a cabinet meeting that Vitaly Yarema and Ihor Tenyukh would be charged with "ensuring the conflict does not become military in nature".
He said the two men had just left the meeting.
Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said the senior Ukrainian officials dispatched to the region by the government in Kiev will not be allowed to enter, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
"They are not wanted in Crimea. Nobody will let them into Crimea, they will be sent back," Interfax quoted Mr Aksyonov as saying.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Pro-Moscow militants capture Ukraine's navy chief
Dengan url
http://newsdeadlineup.blogspot.com/2014/03/pro-moscow-militants-capture-ukraines.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Pro-Moscow militants capture Ukraine's navy chief
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Pro-Moscow militants capture Ukraine's navy chief
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar