Ivan Sekretarev/AP
Unidentified gunmen block the entrance to the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine Saturday as discord deepens between Russia and Ukraine.
SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — The pro-Russian leader of Ukraine’s Crimea region claimed control of the military and police there Saturday and appealed to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for help in keeping peace, sharpening the discord between the two Slavic neighbor countries.
It was the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin formally asked parliament for permission Saturday to send troops to Crimea.
“I’m submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.
VIKTOR DRACHEVVIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images
A masked gunman from Ukraine’s disbanded Berkut riot police force aims his Klashnikov rifle at a checkpoint on highway connecting the Crimean peninsula to mainland Ukraine. Russian troops have ‘invaded’ Crimea, Ukrainian authorites said Saturday.
Armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications center in Crimea on Friday.
Ukraine has accused Russia of a “military invasion and occupation” — a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis, and raised fears that Moscow is moving to intervene on the strategic peninsula where Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based.
Ukraine’s population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea is mainly Russian-speaking. Crimean’s prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards in the region will answer only to his orders.
BAZ RATNER/REUTERS
Unidentified fighter jets on the tarmac of the Belbek Airport in Crimea Saturday. Armed men took control of two airports in region on Friday in what Ukraine’s government calls an invasion by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk opened a cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, by calling on Russia not to provoke discord in Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea.
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“We call on the government and authorities of Russia to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations,” Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. “Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine.”
Crimea only became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the Soviet Union.
LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators hold placards supporting region of Crimea during rally Saturday in Kiev on Saturday. Ukraine accused Russia of invading the Crimean peninsula.
The Soviet breakup in 1991 meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.
President Barack Obama warned Moscow on Friday “there will be costs” if it intervenes militarily. Russia has taken a confrontational stance toward its southern neighbor after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.
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Yanukovych was voted out of office by parliament after weeks of protests ended in violence that left over 80 people dead.
DAVID MDZINARISHVILI/REUTERS
An armed man patrols near regional administration building in the Crimean city of Simferopol Saturday. Ukraine’s defense minister says Russia sent 6,000 troops into the Ukraine and the Ukrainian military is on high alert.
Demonstrators sought his resignation after he backed out of signing an agreement to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union instead of Russia.
Yanukovych took refuge in Russia and still says he’s president. Aksyonov, the head of the main pro-Russia party on the peninsula, appealed to Putin “for assistance in guaranteeing peace and calmness on the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea.”
Aksyonov was voted in by the Crimean parliament on Thursday after pro-Russia gunmen seized the building and as tensions soared over Crimea’s resistance to the new authorities in Kiev, who took office this week. Obama called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor, which is undergoing political upheaval. He said such action by Russia would represent a “profound interference” in matters he said must be decided by the Ukrainian people.
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BAZ RATNER/REUTERS
Russian Army trucks on the road Saturday from Sevastopol to Simferopol in the Crimea region. Ukraine accused Russian forces of invading and occupying the autonomous Crimean area.
“The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine,” he said. He did not say what those costs might be. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter that it was “obvious that there is Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Likely immediate aim is to set up puppet pro-Russian semi-state in Crimea.”
At the United Nations, the Ukrainian ambassador, Yuriy Sergeyev, said Friday that Russian transport aircraft and 11 attack helicopters had arrived in Crimea illegally, and that Russian troops had taken control of two airports in Crimea.
He described the gunmen posted outside the two airports as Russian armed forces as well as “unspecified” units. Russia has kept silent on claims of military intervention and has said any troop movements are within agreed rules, even as it maintained its hard-line stance on protecting ethnic Russians in Crimea. Meanwhile, flights remained halted from Simferopol’s airport.
Dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings patrolled the area. They didn’t stop or search people leaving or entering the airport, and refused to talk to journalists.
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