Article

2014-03-20 Europe

[An Nahar] Pro-Russian forces captured Ukraine's naval commander after seizing his headquarters in Crimea on Wednesday as Moscow's grip tightened on the peninsula despite Western warnings its "annexation" would not go unpunished, as Kiev said it would start pulling its troops out of the disputed region.

Later on Wednesday, Russian forces seized control of a second Ukrainian navy base in western Crimea, Agence La Belle France Presse news hounds saw, hours after capturing the main navy headquarters in Sevastopol.

Some 50 Ukrainian servicemen were seen filing out of the base at Novoozerne as Russian soldiers stood by, while pro-Moscow turbans raised the Russian flag over the base.

Later on Wednesday, Ukraine's acting president said Crimea's separatist leaders had three hours to release the detained head of the ex-Soviet state's navy or face "an adequate response."

"Unless Admiral (Sergiy) Gayduk and all the other hostages -- both military and civilian ones -- are released, the authorities will carry out an adequate response... of a technical and technological nature," he said in a statement.

Ukraine's government also said it was drawing up plans to withdraw its troops from Crimea, noting that it will seek U.N. support to turn Crimea into a demilitarized zone.

"We are developing a plan that would enable us not only to withdraw servicemen, but also members of their families in Crimea, so that they could be quickly and efficiently moved to mainland Ukraine," Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council chief Andriy Parubiy told a televised presser.

Also on Wednesday, Kiev said it was dispatching its defense minister but Crimea's regional leader said he would be barred from entry amid mounting tensions in a region at the epicenter of the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

Dozens of despondent Ukrainian soldiers -- one of them in tears -- filed out of the Ukraine's main navy base in the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol after its storming by hundreds of pro-Kremlin protesters and Russian troops.

"We have been temporarily disbanded," a Ukrainian lieutenant who identified himself only as Vlad told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"I was born here and I grew up here and I have been serving for 20 years," he said as a Russian flag went up over the base without a single shot being fired in its defense. "Where am I going to go?"

A Russian forces' representative said that Ukraine's navy commander Sergiy Gayduk -- appointed after his predecessor switched allegiance in favor of Crimea's pro-Kremlin authorities at the start of the month -- were tossed into the calaboose.

"He was blocked and he had nowhere to go. He was forced out and he has been taken away," Igor Yeskin told news hounds.

Posted by Fred 2014-03-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top

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