Russian armed forces seize Crimea as Putin threatens wider military invasion of Ukraine

Members of the Russian Federation Council said that their nation’s troops are needed to protect the safety of millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and that the soldiers should stay until “the constitutional order is restored in Ukraine,” which hints at a possible Russian attempt to return to power Viktor Yanukovych, ousted as Ukraine’s president on Feb. 22, or install another Kremlin-friendly leader. 

Despite the strong Kremlin rhetoric, there is no evidence that ethnic Russians are in any danger in Ukraine more than anybody else.

Federation Council members heaped scorn on the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted Yanukovych, condemning the activists as fascists, anti-Semites and neo-Nazis, and said that the Western-financed Ukrainian uprising needed to be stopped before it spread to Russia. There was, of course, no mention among Moscow officials of Yanukovych’s alleged complicity in the deaths of nearly 100 EuroMaidan protesters in the last month as well as his administration’s increasingly well-documented corrupt rule.

Putin’s request was worded this way: “Due to the extraordinary situation that has taken shape in Ukraine and the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, and the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who are deployed on the territory of Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) under an international treaty, I hereby introduce, under Clause (g) of Part 1 of Article 2012 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, an appeal for the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the social and political situation in that country.”

Putin’s request, however, comes after the fact.

Russian soldiers already were systematically taking charge of strategic locations on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on March 1, with estimates of the number of troops or Russian-backed armed forces already on Ukrainian soil ranging from 6,000 and 28,000.

The takeover came as the Crimea’s new pro-Russian prime
minister, Sergei Aksenov, called for a referendum on March 30 to allow voters
in the 2.2 million-population region to decide whether they want to remain
in Ukraine, join Russia or form an independent state. 

However, Ukrainian government officials in Kyiv questioned the legitimacy of Aksenov’s appointment and called a referendum on separatism illegal. Meanwhile, Russian officials and ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, deposed on Feb. 22, are questioning the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian government.

The debate in the Russian Federation Council, which looked set to unanimously vote for the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military troops, is broadcast live on Russia Today, a Kremlin-funded TV station.

Yatseniuk tells Putin to withdraw troops

Ukraine’s new prime minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, today called on
Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw the troops, estimated to number at
least 6,000 soldiers, according to defense minister Ihor Teniukh. He called the movement of Russian troops in Ukraine “a provocation” and violation of the conditions for Ukraine’s hosting of the Russian naval base in Crimea’s Sevastopol.

Young boys look on as unidentified armed individuals block the center of Balaklava, near Sevastopol, on March 1. Russia’s parliament on March 1 gave President Vladimir Putin the go-ahead to send troops into Ukraine, despite a warning from Washington that such a deployment would results in “costs” for Moscow. The stark escalation of the ex-Soviet country’s three-month political crisis came amid growing instability in Ukraine’s predominantly Russian peninsula of Crimea that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years. AFP PHOTO/ VIKTOR DRACHEV

Eyewitness: Armed takeover is ‘a work in progress’

Andriy Ignatov, a Ukrainian working with a TV news crew in
Crimea, said that the troops are meeting no resistance by local residents. But
he said they’re not being welcomed either.

“I see no enthusiasm for the arrival of the troops, maybe because thy have no insignias. There’s no cheering crowds, no flowers. The attitude is pretty much ‘let’s go with the flow.’ There’s concern about what’s going to happen next. People ask, ‘Are we going to be part of Russia now? Well, then, OK, as long as there’s no fighting.”

Although Russia has not acknowledged that its armed forces are
responsible for the takeovers of airports, communication centers, military establishments and government
buildings in Crimea during the last two days, Ignatov said that it’s clearly a military operation. He
said the Russian soldiers are working closely with local pro-Russian militias
formed on Feb. 23. Moreover, Russia’s Interior Ministry on its website asked Ukrainian police officers to work with them.

“We watched the Russian troops’
takeover of the airports in Sevastopol and now in Simferopol,” Ignatov said.
“From a behavioral point of view, they are not special forces, but are Russian
marines. Their uniforms are Russian military. They use weapons used by Russian
forces. They are in full coordination with local militias formed last Sunday. They
get the locals to protect the troops from contact with anyone, so that the troops
do not say a word and cannot be recognized by their accents.”

 A Crimean investigative journalism
bureau estimates that as many as 28,000 Russian troops are working on the
peninsula, nearly five times higher than what Ukraine’s
defense minister estimated today.

Besides airports and government
buildings, Ignativ said the soldiers took over Ukraine’s air defense control
base in Feodosia and other smaller installations. “They take over perimeter and
behave in a non-hostile way,” Ignatov said.

Internet and telephone services were briefly interrupted for several hours last night, he said, but have since returned to normal. However, all civilian flights remain cancelled today.

Some government buildings are
flying Russian and Crimean flags on top. Others, like the regional police
headquarters, continue to pledge loyalty to Kyiv and fly the Ukrainian flag.

“It’s a work in progress. They are
progressively taking charge of strategic objects,” Ignatov said.

Russian Foreign Ministry cites threats, call for help from Aksenov

 Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry justified incursions by
saying that Aksenov, the newly installed Crimean prime minister, asked for the
Kremlin’s help in bringing public order to the region. Moscow alleged today that “unknown
armed men from Kyiv tried to seize the Crimean Interior Ministry overnight, and
there were several injuries in that attack.”

“Moscow is very concerned with the latest developments in
Crimea and thinks any further escalation would be irresponsible,” the
Foreign Ministry added. “Thanks to the decisive action of self-defense
squads, the attempt to seize the building of the Interior Ministry was
derailed. This attempt confirms the intention of prominent political circles in
Kiev to destabilize the situation on the peninsula.”

Such statements from the Kremlin have been preludes to military
intervention in other nations, as Russia did in 2008 when it justified its
invasion of neighboring Georgia, another former Soviet republic, as essential
to protecting the security of Russians in the Georgian breakaway republics of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Foreign Ministry statement comes as the Kremlin said that
Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering the appeal of Aksenov for help “in maintaining peace and tranquility in
the territory of the autonomous republic,”  according to a statement
on March 1.

The Kremlin’s accusations and troop movements, apparently in coordination with Aksenov, are the latest signs that Ukraine’s Crimean is no longer under the control of Kyiv’s
transitional government.

Aksenov calls for vote on whether to secede from Ukraine

Moreover, Aksenov issued a statement calling on Crimean voters to vote in a March 30 referendum to decide among three
choices: “to retain its current status as an autonomous republic
within Ukraine, to become an independent state, or to become part of
Russia.” Aksenov moved up the referendum date from the previously scheduled May
25 date.

Aksenov also claimed
March 1 to have command of all military forces, police and other security
services in the region. He declared that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and
border guards will answer only to his orders. He says that any commanders who
don’t agree should leave their posts.

Aksenov, the head of the main pro-Russia party in the region,
was appointed by the Crimean parliament on Feb. 27 as tensions soared over
Crimea’s resistance to the new authorities in Kyiv who replaced ousted
President Viktor Yanukovych and his former top officials. Aksenov replaced Yanukovych’s appointee, Anatoly Mogilev, the former interior minister.

Pro-Russian activists hold up a Russian flag and cheer after storming the regional government building in Kharkiv on March 1, 2014. Dozens were hurt on March 1, 2014 when a pro-Russia protest in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv turned violent, with demonstrators trying to storm the local government building. Some 20,000 joined the protest against Kiev’s new pro-West government after the ouster of Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych, and later around 300 launched the assault on the government building. Stones and stun grenades were thrown though it was unclear by whom. AFP PHOTO/ SERGEY BOBOK

Protests take place in Kharkiv, Donetsk and other eastern cities

Similar unrest is spreading in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where around 12:30 p.m. today more than 7,000 people gathered on Lenin Square to discuss the possibility of holding a referendum on the issue of secession.  According to Oleksiy Matsuka, editor-in-chief of Donetsk online news site Novosti Donbassa, the crowd wants to hold elections for new local and regional government and is urging the Russian consulate there to issue Russian passports to Ukrainians there.

There was also a protest with violent clashes in Kharkiv, the nation’s second largest city, close the the Russian border. 

A LifeNews in Kharkiv showed pro-Russian protesters dragging pro-Ukrainian protesters out of the regional administration building and then occupying it after scuffles. Protesters also took down a Ukrainian flag at the entrance to the building and replaced it with a Russian flag. “We in Kharkiv trust Russia,” one person told a TV journalist. A reporter on the scene said: “Many people want to come on live television. They are coming up to our cameras to express their points of view. Some are coming and showing their pistols.”

In Lugansk’s Sverodonetsk, there are reports of Russian specially trained forces stirring up protesters.

Pro-Russian protesters hold a banner (C) reading “Donetsk region with Russia” and a placard reading “South-east against fascism!” during a rally in the industrial Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 1, 2014. More than 10,000 people carrying Russian flags protested in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the stronghold of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. Protesters declared they supported “the aspirations of Crimea to rejoin Russia”, referring to Ukraine’s pro-Russia peninsula further south where Kiev has accused Moscow of launching an “armed invasion.” AFP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY

Turchynov cites Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008

Also on Feb. 28, Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine’s acting head of
state, accused Russia of “provoking a conflict” by backing the
seizure of the Crimean parliament building and other government offices on the
peninsula. Armed gunmen have also seized Crimea’s telecommunication
company.

“They’re playing the Abkhazia scenario,” Turchynov
said at a late night briefing in Verkhovna Rada, referring to Russia’s 2008
invasion of Georgia, which led to the breakaway independence of two of its
regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Turchynov also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin “to
stop the provocation and call back the military from the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea, and work exclusively within the framework of the signed
agreements,” Turchynov said, referring to Ukraine’s conditions for hosting
Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol. Those conditions include no Russian troop
movements on the peninsula without authorization of the Ukrainian
government.

Turchynov calls for Western help

Turchynov also noted that he expects help from the
West in ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“I also remind that the United States, Russia and Great
Britain are also guarantors of the national security of Ukraine,”
Turchynov said, referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that pledged Western
support in exchange for Ukraine’s surrender of its Soviet-era nuclear weapons
arsenal.

“We demand to stop the provocation, we demand to normalize
the situation. We’re sure that Ukraine will preserve its territory, Ukraine
will defend its independence and any attempts of annexation, intrusion will
have very serious consequences,” Turchynov said.

A woman holds a sign during a demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy in Kiev on March 1, 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2014 submitted a request to the upper house of parliament asking approval for the use of Russian troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. “In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to the lives of Russian citizens… I submit to the Federation Council a request to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory until the normalisation of the political situation in that country,” the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying in the document. AFP PHOTO/ YURY KIRNICHNY

Ukraine’s transitional government unable to stop takeovers in Crimea

However, Ukraine’s transitional government has failed to prevent
the takeover of Crimean government buildings and airports. Moreover, armed and
uniformed men are manning road checkpoints under the Russian flag.

The pro-Russian Aksenov, hostile to Kyiv’s transitional
government, took power on Feb. 27 after the Crimean parliament fired
Yanukovych’s appointed representative, Anatoly Mogilev, the nation’s former
interior minister.

The Crimean parliament had scheduled a referendum for May 25 –
simultaneously to Ukraine’s next presidential elections  – on whether
residents of Crimea favor more independence from Kyiv. In addition,
Sevastopol’s mayor resigned and its city council elected Russian citizen Aleksei
Chaliy to take charge of the city on Feb. 24.

A delegation of Russian members of parliament, including
ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, have visited the city. He said Russia
was not planning to take over Crimea.

Meanwhile, Russian warships are at the entrance of the Balaklava
Bay and as many as 10 Russian military helicopters have been reported violating
Ukrainian airspace in the area.  

The Coast Guard detachment of the Ukrainian State Border Service
in Blaklava has been surrounded by Russian marines – the administrative part of
Sevastopol where the Russian Black Sea fleet is stationed, a state border guard
service news release stated.

National Security and Defense Council secretary Andriy Parubiy
said on Feb. 28 that an action plan is in force to prevent a “separatist
scenario in Crimea.” He added that similar Kremlin-back separatist plans are in
place for the nation’s southern and eastern regions that are friendlier to
Russia.

“But the situation for now is localized (in Crimea) and we will
try to avoid an escalation,”  Parubiy said.

Avakov calls Crimea situation a Russian ‘military intervention’

Earlier, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called the developments
in Crimea a “military intervention” and “occupation” by the Kremlin. 

“What we are witnessing is a special operation performed by the
Kremlin,” said Oleksiy Melnyk, director of foreign relations and international
security programs at Razumkov Center, a Kyiv think tank.

Russia’s objective, the expert said, is to “deprive Ukraine
of political independence and threaten its territorial integrity…and keep it
under its sphere of influence and use it as another bargaining tool with the
West.”

While citing similarities to how Russia gained control over
Transdniester, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Melnyk said the military
maneuvers in Crimea were all part of a big plan to either “turn Sevastopol into
a second Kaliningrad, conquer Crimea, or Crimea together with eastern Ukraine.”

Although Kyiv is doing all it can to avoid a military conflict,
Melnyk told the Kyiv Post that the Ukrainian government “doesn’t have full
authority down there.”

He noted that Crimea has strong numbers of Berkut, the riot
police unit disbanded by Kyiv’s new government  and blamed in the deaths
of scores of EuroMaidan protesters. They won’t be too loyal given that they
just returned from Kyiv where “they committed criminal actions and will commit
other crimes to avoid being held accountable,” Melnyk said.

Russia denies being part of takeovers

Thus far, the Russian Black Sea fleet has denied being a part of
the airport takeovers and occupation of government buildings.

However, Melnyk stated that only the Ukrainian military and
Russian Black Sea fleet together with several Russian Federal Security Service
(FSB) units have the right to operate in Crimea so, “if another force blocks
Ukrainian military bases, then it is not the Ukrainian military.”

In addition, Melnyk said the armed men who have attempted taking
over the airports and who have occupied buildings have no insignia or
identification.

“They are beyond the realm of the law and could be simply be
called terrorists or mercenaries,” said Melnyk, adding that the armored
personnel carriers and trucks transporting the armed men also don’t have
identifiable tag numbers.

Pyatt says US is committed to Ukrainian sovereignty

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said on Feb. 27 that
“nobody should make mistakes at this point and the United States is committed
to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at this critical time… So we
are deeply convinced that this is not a zero-sum issue.”

He added that it is in Russia’s best interest to have a stable
“situation in Ukraine and that Russia will benefit from democracy, economic
growth, and progress in this country.”

Crimea has always been a potentially volatile region after
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it from Russia to Ukraine in 1954.

Crimea’s cultural links were always far stronger with Russia.
Today, some 58 percent of Crimean residents identify themselves as ethnic
Russian, while about 12 percent of its residents are Tatar who started
returning to their homeland in the late 1980s after being expelled by Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin after World War II. About 24 percent are Ukrainians.

According to a recent poll released last week by the Democratic
Initiatives Foundation, some 42 percent of Crimea residents want Ukraine to
unite with Russia.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Feb. 27 said Crimea
is of great importance to Turkey. Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group and both are
Muslims. “For Turkey, Ukraine’s territorial integrity, stability and
prosperity are crucial. Our greatest wish is the maintenance of stability in
Ukraine,” said Davutoğlu.

Meanwhile, Tatar lawmaker Mustafa Dzhemilev of the Batkivshchyna Party has
asked Turchynov to deploy the entire Ukrainian army
to Crimea. “There are no threats in other oblasts yet. Call a state of
emergency and take control,” said Dzhemilev, cited by RBK-Ukraine.

Parubiy. the new national security council head,  today said calling a state of emergency won’t solve
anything.

“This kind of scenario won’t help solve the problems that are
now in Crimea and the Security Council is looking for other methods to bring
the situation under control,” said Parubiy.

Updated at 10:56 p.m. March 1 Kyiv time

 Editor’s Note: This article has been produced with support from the project www.mymedia.org.ua, financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and implemented by a joint venture between NIRAS and BBC Media Action.The content in this article may not necessarily reflect the views of the Danish government, NIRAS and BBC Action Media.