Wednesday, March 19, 2014

About The Crimean War

 

 

 

  • Crimea's self defence forces stormed Ukraine naval base in Sevastopol
  • Russian flags are now flying outside one of the base entrances
  • Ukrainian soldiers were seen leaving the base with their belongings
  • Vladimir Putin has signed a treaty to incorporate Crimea into its territory
  • Ukraine now plans to relocate armed forces to the mainland
  • It comes after a Ukrainian serviceman was shot dead at a military base in Simferopol, Crimea
  • A local self-defence brigade member was also reportedly dead killed
  • Pro-Russian self-defence members surrounded the base, threatening to break in over the death
  • U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will meet Putin in Russia on Thursday before heading to Kiev for peace talks
  • Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to return to Kiev

 

Russia could seize the whole of Ukraine in three days, Nato’s supreme military commander warned yesterday.

US Air Force General Philip Breedlove said Vladimir Putin has built up a force on Ukraine’s borders that is big enough for a full-blown invasion and ‘ready to go’.

He spoke as diplomatic concerns grew over the Russian strongman’s failure to pull his forces back after seizing Crimea – despite pledging to do so.

Russian forces poise on the border

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But intelligence chiefs warned Nato that the 40,000 troops on the border could invade the rest of Ukraine within 12 hours of a Kremlin order. General Breedlove said: ‘This is a very large and very capable and very ready force.’

Vladimir Putin sent troops into Crimea after Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was toppled in February

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Vladimir Putin sent troops into Crimea after Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was toppled in February

He said it had aircraft and helicopter support, field hospitals and electronic warfare capabilities – ‘the entire suite that would be required to successfully have an incursion into Ukraine, should the decision be made’.

He added: ‘We think it is ready to go and we think it could accomplish its objectives in between three and five days.’

Russia said it regretted the tone of Nato’s comments as a throwback to the Cold War.

‘The language . . . rather resembles the verbal jousting of the Cold War era,’ foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

Russia has said it will not invade Ukraine, but Mr Putin sent troops into Crimea after Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was toppled in February. He has said he will protect ethnic Russians in nearby countries.

There have been pro-Russian demonstrations across east Ukraine, with crowds asking to be saved from ‘fascists’ they say have taken over in Kiev.

Moscow wants these areas to have more autonomy, a move bitterly rejected by the new government, which says it would break up Ukraine. 

General Breedlove warned that Moscow might seek to invade eastern Ukraine, establish a land corridor to Crimea, seize the Black Sea port of Odessa or even seize land to connect Russia to Transdniestria, the mainly Russian-speaking, separatist region of Moldova to the west of Ukraine.

Build-up: Russian solders prepare to move a Russian T-72 tank at the Ostryakovo railway station near Simferopol, Crimea, on Monday

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Build-up: Russian solders prepare to move a Russian T-72 tank at the Ostryakovo railway station near Simferopol, Crimea, on Monday

On the move: Russian armoured personnel carriers pictured heading into Crimea in February

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On the move: Russian armoured personnel carriers pictured heading into Crimea in February

Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels this week asked military commanders to draw up plans to reinforce Nato members in Eastern Europe.

Nato will hold joint exercises with countries in the area and is looking at the readiness of its rapid reaction force.

Its Secretary General Mr Rasmussen said: ‘If Russia were to intervene further in Ukraine, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it an historic mistake. That would lead to further international isolation of Russia.

‘It would have far reaching consequences for the relations between Russia and . . . the Western world. It would be a miscalculation with huge strategic implications.’

U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (second left), speaks to colleagues during a meeting  in Brussels yesterday

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U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (second left), speaks to colleagues during a meeting in Brussels yesterday

The warnings came as Viktor Yanukovich announced he was ‘wrong’ to invite Russian troops into Crimea. The ousted president said he has met with Mr Putin and still hopes to see him hand the region back.

‘Crimea is a tragedy, a major tragedy,’ he said. ‘We must . . . search for ways to return to Crimea on any conditions.’

Russia annexed Crimea last month following a rushed  referendum held after Russian troops took the region. Ukraine and the West have rejected the move as illegal.

 

     

Ukraine tonight announced plans to withdraw its troops from Crimea after masked Russian-speaking soldiers backed by unarmed volunteers took control of its naval base in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol this morning.

Several hundred so-called Crimea self-defence soldiers - consisting mainly of unarmed volunteers - took down the gate alongside armed troops and made their way onto the headquarters' premises where they raised the Russian flag.

Shortly after the incident, Ukraine's acting Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh said in Kiev that the country's forces would not withdraw from Crimea despite President Vladimir Putin signing a treaty to make it part of Russia.

But an hour later, Ukrainian servicemen, unarmed and in civilian clothing, began walking out of the headquarters. This evening Ukraine announced plans to withdraw troops from Crimea.

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Flying the flag: A soldier holds up a Russian flag on the roof of Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimean, on Wednesday morning after the base was stormed by pro-Russian forces

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Flying the flag: A soldier holds up a Russian flag on the roof of Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimean, on Wednesday morning after the base was stormed by pro-Russian forces

Taking control: Pro-Russian self-defence force members break through an entrance to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

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Taking control: Pro-Russian self-defence force members break through an entrance to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

Being cut out: A member of the Pro-Russian self-defence force reaches for a knife as he takes down a Ukrainian Navy flag at the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol

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Being cut out: A member of the Pro-Russian self-defence force reaches for a knife as he takes down a Ukrainian Navy flag at the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol

Transformation: Ukrainian Navy flags and insignia are removed from inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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Transformation: Ukrainian Navy flags and insignia are removed from inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

Ejected: Ukrainian soldiers fold a Ukrainian flag removed by the Crimean pro-Russian self-defence force after they were forced to leave Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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Ejected: Ukrainian soldiers fold a Ukrainian flag removed by the Crimean pro-Russian self-defence force after they were forced to leave Ukrainian Navy headquarters

Russian soldiers storm the Ukrainian naval HQ in Sevastopol

National Security and Defense Council secretary Andriy Parubiy said on Wednesday night that Ukraine will seek U.N. support to turn Crimea into a demilitarized zone as it seeks to relocate armed forces to the mainland.

Ukraine's military, which is heavily outnumbered in Crimea, has come under increased pressure since the region was nominally incorporated into Russia on Tuesday. Earlier today, many Ukrainian soldiers were seen clutching bags containing their belongings, with their service uniforms in their arms as they abandoned a naval base under the watchful gaze of heavily-armed pro-Russian soldiers.

Sending a message: Russian flags fly at the top of a chimney near the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in Sevastopol

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Sending a message: Russian flags fly at the top of a chimney near the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in Sevastopol

Waving goodbye: Ukrainian servicemen leave a Ukrainian military unit after it was taken over by Russian forces in Sevastopol, Crimea

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Waving goodbye: Ukrainian servicemen leave a Ukrainian military unit after it was taken over by Russian forces in Sevastopol, Crimea

Going home: Ukrainian soldiers left the base with their belongings after being forced out of the building

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Going home: Ukrainian soldiers left the base with their belongings after being forced out of the building

A Ukrainian officer leaves as Russian soldiers take over the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

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A Ukrainian officer leaves as Russian soldiers take over the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

Some of the Ukranian servicemen were said to be in tears as they left, saying they had nowhere to go. They will reportedly be offered the choice of defecting to the Russian forces or being sent back to Kiev.

RUSSIA HINTS IT WILL IMPOSE ITS OWN SANCTIONS AND OTHER 'MEASURES' ON U.S.

Moscow will respond in kind to U.S. sanctions imposed on Russian officials over the Crimea dispute and is considering other steps if Washington escalates the confrontation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said today.

On Monday, the United States and the EU announced sanctions on a handful of officials from Russia and Ukraine accused of involvement in Moscow's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Washington has threatened further sanctions.

'We are looking at a broad range of responsive measures. They can be identical measures regarding certain lists of American officials - not necessarily representatives of the administration ... who have influenced American policies,' Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

'There is also the possibility of passing asymmetrical measures, that means steps which, let's say ... won't go unnoticed in Washington,' he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the sanctions 'unacceptable'. But some of the Russians included on the list of individuals have largely scoffed at the measures which would freeze their assets in the United States.

The Russian-speaking troops, who arrived on the base after the storming, wore helmets, flak jackets and uniforms with no identifying insignia.

By afternoon, they were in full control of the naval headquarters, a set of three-story boxy white concrete buildings with blue trim. It was not immediately clear how many, if any, Ukrainian servicemen remained on the base.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said no one was injured in the raid, which it said was led by pro-Russian militiamen and Cossacks.

It comes after the first bloodshed of the crisis on when Ukrainian Warrant Officer Kakurin S.V. was shot dead at another Military base in Simferopol, Crimea, on Tuesday.

A member of a local Crimea self-defence brigade, loyal to the Russian Federation, was reportedly also shot dead.

Other pro-Russian self-defence members are now surrounding the base and calling for retribution after blaming Ukrainian soldiers for the shooting.

Meanwhile Interfax Ukraine news agency said the commander of the Ukrainian navy, Admiral Serhiy Haiduk was driven away by officers of Russia's FSB intelligence service following the takeover of the naval base this morning.

The report could not be independently confirmed but Crimea's Ministry of Defence reported he was detained by 'unknown persons'.

The first group of servicemen to leave the base on Wednesday morning were followed within a few minutes by a handful of troops in Ukrainian uniform, looking shell-shocked at the dramatic turn of events.

'This morning they stormed the compound. They cut the gates open, but I heard no shooting' said Oleksander Balanyuk, a captain in the navy.

Tension remains high around Crimea's Ukrainian bases

Quiet exit: The servicemen in the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol were reported to have peacefully given up their base after it was taken over by pro-Russian protesters

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Quiet exit: The servicemen in the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol were reported to have peacefully given up their base after it was taken over by pro-Russian protesters

Changing hands: The naval headquarters in Sevastopol are now under the control of Russian forces

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Changing hands: The naval headquarters in Sevastopol are now under the control of Russian forces

A woman, believed to be a Ukrainian servicewoman, pictured carrying her uniform as she leaves a military base in Perevalnoye, near the Crimean city of Simferopol

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A woman, believed to be a Ukrainian servicewoman, pictured carrying her uniform as she leaves a military base in Perevalnoye, near the Crimean city of Simferopol

Masked: Pro-Russian supporters pictured after breaking into Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol

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Masked: Pro-Russian supporters pictured after breaking into Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol

'This thing should have been solved politically. Now all I can do is stand here at the gate. There is nothing else I can do,' he told Reuters, appearing ashamed and downcast.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported that Alexander Vitko, commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet which is based in Sevastopol, had been involved in talks at the headquarters.

Viktor Melnikov, in charge of the the 'self-defence' unit, said talks were going on to negotiate a surrender.

'We've had difficult negotiations with the command here,' he told reporters. 'Some Ukrainian servicemen are already leaving, without their uniforms, but there was no violence.'

Meanwhile in Kiev, Ukraine's defense minister and deputy prime minister had planned to travel to Crimea on Wednesday in what they said was a bid to avert an escalation in hostilities.

But the prime minister in Crimea warned after the announcement of their departure that they would not be allowed in and would be turned back.

White House condemns Russia's use of force in Crimea

Clashes: Crimean pro-Russian self-defence forces scuffle with Ukrainian servicemen outside the Ukrainian navy headquarters

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Clashes: Crimean pro-Russian self-defence forces scuffle with Ukrainian servicemen outside the Ukrainian navy headquarters

Evicted: Ukrainian servicemen have been forced to leave the base after it was taken over by Russian soldiers and pro-defence volunteers

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Evicted: Ukrainian servicemen have been forced to leave the base after it was taken over by Russian soldiers and pro-defence volunteers

Stand-off: Unarmed members of Pro-Russian self-defence forces (pictured left in civilian clothing) force themselves through a group of Ukrainian military men outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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Stand-off: Unarmed members of Pro-Russian self-defence forces (pictured left in civilian clothing) force themselves through a group of Ukrainian military men outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

Pro-Russian self-defence forces hold on to a Ukrainian military man outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters. The unarmed militia waited for an hour before storming the headquarters when the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet arrived

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Pro-Russian self-defence forces hold on to a Ukrainian military man outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters. The unarmed militia waited for an hour before storming the headquarters when the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet arrived

Russian Constitutional Court verifies Crimea's annexation

'They are not welcome in Crimea,' Sergei Aksyonov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. 'They will not be allowed to enter Crimea. They will be sent back.'

Interfax later cited Welfare Minister Lyudmila Denisova as saying the officials had been denied entry to Crimea. She said an emergency session of the National Security and Defense Council will held in response.

It comes as Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was released from a hospital in Berlin with plans to return to Kiev.

The Charite hospital said the 53-year-old received two injections into her spinal column as part of treatment for three slipped discs she suffered while imprisoned.

It says the injections have 'drastically reduced' her pain and improved function in her right leg. She has also undergone 'intensive' physiotherapy, which doctors are recommending she continues in Ukraine.

Pressing forward: President Vladimir Putin, pictured on Wednesday, has signed a treaty to annex Crimea

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Pressing forward: President Vladimir Putin, pictured on Wednesday, has signed a treaty to annex Crimea

'We're in this with you': U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed America will defend any NATO member from aggression as ex-Soviet states expressed concerns over the developments in Crimea

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'We're in this with you': U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed America will defend any NATO member from aggression as ex-Soviet states expressed concerns over the developments in Crimea

On her way back to Kiev: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to return to Ukraine after being released from hospital in Berlin, pictured

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On her way back to Kiev: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to return to Ukraine after being released from hospital in Berlin, pictured

The Charite Hospital in Berlin, Germany, where former Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko was being treated there for chronic back pain

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The Charite Hospital in Berlin, Germany, where former Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko was being treated there for chronic back pain

Tymoshenko, who arrived for treatment on March 7, was expected to leave later in the day.

She was freed last month after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine.

Tymoshenko holds no post in Ukraine's new government but is believed to wield behind-the-scenes influence.

Her release follows thousands of Russian soldiers taking control of Crimea in the buildup to a weekend referendum last weekend in which the region, with ethnic Russians in the majority, voted overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and join Moscow.

It resulted in Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a treaty on Tuesday to incorporate Crimea into its territory.

Putin said his move to take control of Crimea was justified by what he calls 'fascists' in Kiev who overthrew pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich last month after three months of often deadly street protests.

On the move: Russian military personnel take positions on a hillside as they move towards a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye, Crimea

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On the move: Russian military personnel take positions on a hillside as they move towards a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye, Crimea

Surrounded: Russian military personnel move towards a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye, Crimea, on Wednesday

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Surrounded: Russian military personnel move towards a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye, Crimea, on Wednesday

Armed guard: Soldiers surround a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, after pro-Russian activists stormed the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Crimea

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Armed guard: Soldiers surround a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, after pro-Russian activists stormed the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Crimea

Residents lead a horse past the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye which is surrounded by soldiers

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Residents lead a horse past the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye which is surrounded by soldiers

Ukraine and Western governments have dismissed the referendum, which has triggered the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War, as a sham, and say there is no justification for Putin's actions.

Moscow officially denies deploying extra troops and Russian soldiers in the region are wearing unmarked uniforms, making it difficult to verify exactly who is who on the ground.

In Crimea's main city, Simferopol, where one Ukrainian serviceman was killed after a shooting on Tuesday, the situation was calm on Wednesday.

It was the first death on the Black Sea peninsula from a military clash since the region came under Russian control three weeks ago. Ukrainian prime minister Yatseniuk denounced it as a 'war crime'.

The soldier has since been identified as warrant officer S. V. Kakurin. A spokesman for the Ministry Of Defence Of Ukraine paid tribute to the soldier as 'gentle and civilised man' who had recently transferred to his unit at the 13th Photogrammetric Center.

Russian soldiers set up guard in Sevastopol as Moscow's grip tightened on the peninsula despite Western warnings its 'annexation' would not go unpunished

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Russian soldiers set up guard in Sevastopol as Moscow's grip tightened on the peninsula despite Western warnings its 'annexation' would not go unpunished

A Russian soldier stands guard in front of a placard reading 'Fascism will not pass! All to the referendum!' near the Ukrainian navy headquarters

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A Russian soldier stands guard in front of a placard reading 'Fascism will not pass! All to the referendum!' near the Ukrainian navy headquarters

WHAT ANNEXING CRIMEA WILL COST RUSSIA'S GOVERNMENT

Russia announced on Wednesday it will cover Crimea's estimated 55 billion rouble ($1.53 billion) budget deficit with funds from the federal budget.

It comes after the Russian government said on Monday had provided 15 billion rubles ($400 million) in aid to the region, which he said had doubled the Crimean budget overnight.

But absorbing the Black Sea peninsula, which has long been a corruption-riddled backwater in economic terms, is likely to cost the Kremlin far more.

Moscow is now trying to calculate the price tag of bringing in a region that - in the words of Russian Regional Development Minister Igor Slyunyayev - has an economy that 'looks no better than Palestine'.

CHALLENGES

As part of Ukraine, about 40 per cent of Crimea's annual budget of roughly $500 million was propped up by subsidies from Kiev.

Russia would be expected to at least match - and probably far exceed - the Ukrainian annual contribution to raise living standards in its new territory.

Living standards in Crimea are drastically different from Russia. The GDP per capita in Russia, home to more than a hundred billionaires, is about $14,000. In Crimea, it's about $5,000.

Demographics are one major hurdle. More than 500,000 people - about a quarter of the population - are pensioners. Pensions in Russia are about double what they are in Ukraine, and former Russian tax minister Alexander Pochinok estimated that paying pensions in Crimea alone would cost 70 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) per year.

Many Crimean residents make their living through tourism, although much of that money is kept off official ledgers and therefore difficult to tax. About 70 per cent of tourists in recent years have been Ukrainians, in large part because the peninsula's only road and railroad links are to mainland Ukraine.

The industry is likely to be hard hit as many Ukrainian travelers stay away this summer, although Russian authorities have pledged to reduce the cost of air travel to the peninsula to bolster travel to the region.

Crimea is also highly dependent on Ukraine for energy and water, most of which is supplied across the thin strip of land that connects the peninsula to the mainland. About 80 per cent of the region's electricity is supplied across the isthmus.

The governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region, which is separated from Crimea by a stretch of water called the Kerch Strait, pledged to provide electricity to the peninsula by building an underwater supply system. Other officials have said Crimea may need to build its own electricity plant - a project that could come with a price tag of nearly $1.7 billion, analysts say.

But even as the Crimean government has threatened to nationalize Ukrainian government property, Kiev has promised not to turn off the taps to energy and water.

Russia has promised to bolster infrastructure in the region. Moscow and Kiev have been talking about building a bridge over the Kerch Strait for more than a decade, but the project has repeatedly stalled. In recent weeks, Russian officials have eagerly revived the project, which is estimated to take years and cost at least 50 billion rubles ($1.4 billion). They also are now discussing building a railroad and underwater tunnel across the strait.

But even if all of these projects add up to billions of dollars, it may still be small change to the Russian government.

'For Russia's budget this is not a big deal,' said Nataliya Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank. 'Even if you spend $5 billion or $10 billion, this is not money that dramatically changes things.'

Russia had a total of over $170 billion stashed in two rainy day funds as of late February. It tapped into this money to try to shore up the regime of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia last month.

Orlova argued that Crimea's annexation could in fact turn out to be positive for Russia's economy in the short term, because investment could spur a consumption boom in Crimea.

But Crimea has long been known as an organized crime hub, and the Kiev government's longstanding reluctance to meddle in the autonomous region has meant that a culture of corruption has been tacitly allowed to flourish in the region since the Soviet collapse.

They added that he was standing unarmed at his post at a watchtower when he was shot twice - receiving a bullet wound to his head and through his heart.

It comes as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon headed to Moscow and Kiev to try to resolve the crisis between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimean Peninsula.

U.N. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he will meet President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday.

On Friday, Ban will travel to Kiev for talks with the acting-president and prime minister.

Dujarric said the trip is part of the secretary general's 'diplomatic efforts to encourage all parties to resolve the current crisis peacefully.'

Ban has repeatedly called for a solution guided by the principles of the U.N. Charter including sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Coast Guard vessels docked in the Black Sea port of Odessa as the country's border guard service announced all its vessels have left Crimea and Crimea's naval ports are now under the control of Russian forces

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Ukrainian Coast Guard vessels docked in the Black Sea port of Odessa as the country's border guard service announced all its vessels have left Crimea and Crimea's naval ports are now under the control of Russian forces

A Ukrainian woman holding a bunch of flowers pays her respects to victims of the Maidan movement on Independence Square, in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday

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A Ukrainian woman holding a bunch of flowers pays her respects to victims of the Maidan movement on Independence Square, in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday

Kiev inhabitants pass an improvised monument dedicated to the victims of the Maidan movement, near Independence Square, as Russia tightened its hold on the Crimea

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Kiev inhabitants pass an improvised monument dedicated to the victims of the Maidan movement, near Independence Square, as Russia tightened its hold on the Crimea

Amid the growing Crimea crisis, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - which like Ukraine were all parts of the old Soviet Union - have expressed growing apprehension over Moscow's intentions.

UKRAINE'S ARMY TEXT APPEAL

Ukrainians have donated more than one million dollars to the country's impoverished armed forces through a telephone appeal set up by the country's Ministry of Defence.

The ministry's official Facebook page says: 'Support the Army of Ukraine! Citizens' campaign to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine with material, technical and medical supplies.'

Ukrainians donated some 9.9m hryvnyas ($1m; £611,000) in less than three days with a substantial portion coming through mobile phone text messages, the ministry says.

The appeal asked people to text 565 to automatically transfer 5 hryvnyas to the fund.

According to ministry figures, more than half of the money was pledged by individuals, but Ukrainian businesses also sent significant amounts.

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov recently said only 6,000 troops are combat-ready due to a lack of funding.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is currently in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as part of a trip to reassure the three countries, all European Union and NATO members, of Washington's support.

He also warned Moscow it was on a 'dark path' to isolation on Wednesday after the takeover of Ukraine's naval headquarters.

'As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation,' said Biden, referring to reports of armed attacks against Ukrainian military personnel in Crimea.

His comments come as NATO's chief was expected to describe Russia's advances in Ukraine the greatest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War.

In in a speech set for Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was expected to say that Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's strategic Crimea Peninsula is a wake-up call for international partners committed to a free and peaceful Europe.

An advance copy of Rasmussen's planned speech at the Brookings Institution think-tank was obtained by The Associated Press.

Rasmussen was expected to describe other NATO priorities - including the war in Afghanistan, peacekeeping in Kosovo and stopping piracy off the coast of Somalia.

But he also will say NATO must focus on the long-term impact of Russia's aggression on its own security.

Takeover: A free 'Russian newspaper' was being distributed on the streets of Simferopol in Crimea on Wednesday

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Takeover: A free 'Russian newspaper' was being distributed on the streets of Simferopol in Crimea on Wednesday

Waiting game: An armed member of the Russian forces waits outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol onTuesday night

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Waiting game: An armed member of the Russian forces waits outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol onTuesday night

Armed: Members of the Russian forces pictured outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol on Tuesday night

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Armed: Members of the Russian forces pictured outside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol on Tuesday night

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard at a check point at the border between Ukraine and Crimea near kherson on Tuesday

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A Ukrainian soldier stands guard at a check point at the border between Ukraine and Crimea near kherson on Tuesday

Blockade: Ukrainian soldiers at the Ukraine bored with Crimea after both sides suffered their first casualties that threatened to see the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War spin out of control

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Blockade: Ukrainian soldiers at the Ukraine bored with Crimea after both sides suffered their first casualties that threatened to see the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War spin out of control

A REGION WORTH FIGHTING FOR? WHY RUSSIA COVETS THE CRIMEA

Flashpoint: A picture of soldiers during the Crimean War, circa 1855

Flashpoint: A picture of soldiers during the Crimean War, circa 1855

Crimea is a region synonymous with military glory for Russians, imperial and Soviet.

Catherine the Great first annexed the region in 1783 after defeating the Ottoman Turks and built a naval base and the city Sevastopol. The Russian Black Sea fleet has been there ever since.

What Crimea is best remembered for in the West is the Crimean War of the 1850s. The conflict was initially between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire but drew in Britain and France.

It ended with the Treaty of London of 1856.

The region only became part of Ukraine in 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was himself Ukrainian-born, signed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from Russia. Pro-Kremlin campaigners call this a 'historical accident'.

Ethnic, cultural and religious ties are also very Russian, leading some pro-Kremlin Crimeans to freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation.

Currently, there are two million ethnic Russians who live on the peninsula, making up almost 60 per cent of the population.

Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars – the peninsula's original Turkic-speaking Muslim inhabitants – account for the rest.

But it has not always been that way.

By 1900 Crimean Tatars, previously the major population, had been reduced to half of residents. After the Soviet revolution they were reduced to a quarter.

The Crimea has remained a stable feature of geopolitics for over a century and a half

The Crimea has remained a stable feature of geopolitics for over a century and a half

Then Stalin forcibly deported many of them to Central Asia and replaced them with Slavs from Russia or Russian-influenced parts of eastern Ukraine.

As a result Crimea was largely 'russified' over the two centuries after its incorporation into the Russian Empire and its indigenous Muslim population swamped or displaced.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Tatars remained or have returned, but they are still a minority numbering about 15 per cent of the population.

They reject the notion of union with Russia and are loyal to Kiev – another volatile element in an already combustible ethnic mix.

Most of Stalin's newcomers were from poor urban backgrounds; they moved into homes vacated by deportees and had weak ties with Ukraine.

They freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation.

'It's a myth that Ukraine is not part of Russia. We don't believe it,' Oleg Rodilov, a pro-Russian MP in Crimea's autonomous parliament said in 2008.

It would be wrong to accuse him of 'separatism', he added. 'For you, Ukraine and Russia are a priori different states. For us they are a priori the same,' he said.

The links of culture, language and Orthodox religion made Ukraine and Russia an indivisible entity, he said. Also, both countries were Slavic, he said. 'We don't believe there is any difference. We have been together for 350 years.'

Ukraine's recent civil conflict has fanned this tension in Crimea.

 

 

About The Crimean War

     

The Crimean War (1853 – 1856) was a conflict between Russia and combined British, French and Ottoman Forces fought on the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. The Great Powers- Russia, Britain and France vied for territory in the declining Ottoman Empire and over rights for Christians in the Holy Land, then under Ottoman control. The war was also one of the first modern wars, featuring the use of railways, telegrams and photography. British photographer Roger Fenton became one of the world’s first war photographers, documenting scenes of military personnel and encampments during 1855.

Roger Fenton (1819-1869) began experimenting with photography ca. 1851 and continued until 1862. His Crimean War photographs represent one of the earliest systematic attempts to document a war through the medium of photography. Although Fenton spent fewer than four months in the Crimea (March 8 to June 26, 1855), he produced 360 photographs under extremely trying conditions for publication by Thomas Agnew & Sons which began to issue sets of photographs in November of 1855. The Library’s collection of 263 unpublished photos is possibly a set of prints kept and annotated by Fenton himself.” – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

“These photographs present a substantial documentary record of the participants and the landscape of the Crimean War, although there are no actual combat scenes. Comprised mainly of portrait photographs of British military personnel, as well as some French and Turkish military personnel, including a nurse attached to the French troops, leaders of the allied forces, Lord Raglan, Maréchal Pélissier, and Ömer Lûtfi Paşa, and Fenton dressed as a Zouave. The views show cavalry and artillery camps, a mortar battery, a cemetery; buildings, the harbor, and ships at Balaklava; the plains between Balaklava and Sevastopolʹ, and distant views of Sevastopolʹ.”

Description of  British soldiers during the Crimean War.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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British soldiers during the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  Ships at at the Cattle Pier on Cossack Bay, Balaklava, during the Crimean War, 1855.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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Ships at at the Cattle Pier on Cossack Bay, Balaklava, during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855:  Balaklava, Ukraine, looking seaward with the harbour crowded with sailing ships. Balaklava was the British headquarters during the Crimean war.  (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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1855: Balaklava, Ukraine, looking seaward with the harbour crowded with sailing ships. Balaklava was the British headquarters during the Crimean war. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Allied leaders and their aides-de-camp standing on steps. Lord Raglan's Head Quarters, with Lord Raglan, Marshal Pélissier, Lord Burghersh, Spahi & Aide-de-camp of Marshal Pélissier. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Allied leaders and their aides-de-camp standing on steps. Lord Raglan's Head Quarters, with Lord Raglan, Marshal Pélissier, Lord Burghersh, Spahi & Aide-de-camp of Marshal Pélissier. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)#

Description of  English and French soldiers having a drink together in the lines before Sebastopol during the Crimean War.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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English and French soldiers having a drink together in the lines before Sebastopol during the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  A mobile darkroom used by photographer Roger Fenton during the Crimean war, where he developed negatives within 10 minutes of their exposure. His assistant Marcus Sparling is seated on the box.   (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A mobile darkroom used by photographer Roger Fenton during the Crimean war, where he developed negatives within 10 minutes of their exposure. His assistant Marcus Sparling is seated on the box. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Captain Thomas Longworth Dames, Royal Artillery, three-quarter length portrait, wearing uniform, standing near wall, bell tent in background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Captain Thomas Longworth Dames, Royal Artillery, three-quarter length portrait, wearing uniform, standing near wall, bell tent in background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - View of encampment showing bell tents, huts, soldiers, and horses. View looking towards Kadikoi. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - View of encampment showing bell tents, huts, soldiers, and horses. View looking towards Kadikoi. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - Colonel Brownrigg, ull-length portrait, seated, facing right; and two captured Russian boys, one standing and one sitting, at entrance to tent. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Colonel Brownrigg, ull-length portrait, seated, facing right; and two captured Russian boys, one standing and one sitting, at entrance to tent. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - Captain Morgan sitting on horse, holding reins, facing left. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Captain Morgan sitting on horse, holding reins, facing left. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - Men seated by railroad bed under construction next to Balaklava harbor. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Men seated by railroad bed under construction next to Balaklava harbor. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855:  Lietenant Colonel Halliwell being poured a drink at an army camp in Russia, during the Crimean War.  (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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1855: Lietenant Colonel Halliwell being poured a drink at an army camp in Russia, during the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855:  Edward Birch Reynardson, a British army officer of the Grenadier Guards, stationed at Balaklava during the Crimean War.  (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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1855: Edward Birch Reynardson, a British army officer of the Grenadier Guards, stationed at Balaklava during the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Officers and men of the 8th Hussars. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Officers and men of the 8th Hussars. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)#

Description of  1855 - Lieutenant General Sir Harry Jones, half-length portrait, standing with arm resting on stone wall. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Lieutenant General Sir Harry Jones, half-length portrait, standing with arm resting on stone wall. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  The War Council's commanders-in-chief of the Allies, Lord Raglan, Omar Pasha and General Pelisier having a meeting during the Crimean war.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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The War Council's commanders-in-chief of the Allies, Lord Raglan, Omar Pasha and General Pelisier having a meeting during the Crimean war. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Group of Tatars at work repairing roadway in Balaklava; wooden hut, "Store 14th Regiment", in the background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Group of Tatars at work repairing roadway in Balaklava; wooden hut, "Store 14th Regiment", in the background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - Camps on plateau before Sebastopol. View of British camp with Turkish camp in the distance. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Camps on plateau before Sebastopol. View of British camp with Turkish camp in the distance. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - The old Genoese Castle at Balaklava, from above the castle pier. View of ships in Balaklava harbor and hill with castle or fort ruins, conical tents, buildings, and animals. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - The old Genoese Castle at Balaklava, from above the castle pier. View of ships in Balaklava harbor and hill with castle or fort ruins, conical tents, buildings, and animals. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  English war photographer Roger Fenton (1819 - 1869) in the uniform of a Zouave soldier.   (Photo by Marcus Sparling/Getty Images)

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English war photographer Roger Fenton (1819 - 1869) in the uniform of a Zouave soldier. (Photo by Marcus Sparling/Getty Images) #

Description of  Sir William Howard Russell (1820 - 1907), war correspondent of 'The Times'    (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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Sir William Howard Russell (1820 - 1907), war correspondent of 'The Times' (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Lieutenant General Sir John Campbell, full-length portrait, seated inside tent, facing left; Captain Hume, full-length portrait, standing outside tent, facing front. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Lieutenant General Sir John Campbell, full-length portrait, seated inside tent, facing left; Captain Hume, full-length portrait, standing outside tent, facing front. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  Mortar batteries in front of Picquet House, Light Division, during the Crimean War, circa 1855. The British soldiers are positioned behind a berm, or raised earth fortification. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Mortar batteries in front of Picquet House, Light Division, during the Crimean War, circa 1855. The British soldiers are positioned behind a berm, or raised earth fortification. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  Members of the 4th Light Dragoons at camp in the Crimea, circa 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Members of the 4th Light Dragoons at camp in the Crimea, circa 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  The Allied Fleet in Balaklava Harbour.    (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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The Allied Fleet in Balaklava Harbour. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  The camp of the British Foot Guards at Balaklava during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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The camp of the British Foot Guards at Balaklava during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  8th Hussars soldiers preparing a meal at the Cookhouse in the field during the Crimean War, 1855.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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8th Hussars soldiers preparing a meal at the Cookhouse in the field during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  Mortar teams having a rest during the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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Mortar teams having a rest during the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images) #

Description of  Captain Henry Duberly, paymaster of the 8th Hussars, with his wife Frances Isabella during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Captain Henry Duberly, paymaster of the 8th Hussars, with his wife Frances Isabella during the Crimean War, 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Captains Ralph Budd, John Dwyer, William Cosmo Trevor, Frederick Hammersley, John Barlow, and Angus(?) Hall, full-length portrait, three standing next to, and three sitting on, a caisson. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Captains Ralph Budd, John Dwyer, William Cosmo Trevor, Frederick Hammersley, John Barlow, and Angus(?) Hall, full-length portrait, three standing next to, and three sitting on, a caisson. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  1855 - Mr. Thompson, full-length portrait, seated on a gabion, facing front, surrounded by attendants of Ismail Pacha. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Mr. Thompson, full-length portrait, seated on a gabion, facing front, surrounded by attendants of Ismail Pacha. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  Captain William Cecil George Pechell (standing, third from right) and men of the 77th Regiment in their winter dress in the Ukraine, during the Crimean War, circa 1855. Pechell was killed at Sebastopol on 3rd September 1855, having received honourary mention in the despatches only a few days before. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Captain William Cecil George Pechell (standing, third from right) and men of the 77th Regiment in their winter dress in the Ukraine, during the Crimean War, circa 1855. Pechell was killed at Sebastopol on 3rd September 1855, having received honourary mention in the despatches only a few days before. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  Spent cannon balls from the battlefield are scattered in the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death'  on the plain of Balaklava during the Crimean War.   (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

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Spent cannon balls from the battlefield are scattered in the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death' on the plain of Balaklava during the Crimean War. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

   

Ukraine suffers its first deaths in Crimea as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine hits a 'military stage'.

A Ukrainian serviceman and a member of a local self-defence brigade were shot dead, and many more were arrested in a Military base in Simferopol as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine escalates closer to all-out war.

News of the death of the militia member, who is said to be loyal to the Russian Federation came from the news service Interfax

The Ukrainian base was stormed by armed men at a military base in Simferopol in the Crimean Capital.

The men arrived in a truck bearing the Russian flag, and proceeded to storm the compound, firing shots and clearing the Ukrainian compound of its troops, arresting most of the soldiers, killing one, and injuring another.

Following the base attack, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has now warned that the conflict with Russia has escalated, saying: 'The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage.

'Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime.'

As a response, Ukrainian troops have been authorised to open fire in self defence after suffering their first casualty in the dramatic escalation to the now military crisis between the two countries.

After the attack Britain warned that the West and Russia faced a changed relationship in coming years, and London has suspended all bilateral military cooperation and halted arms exports to Russia.

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Armed Russian forces arrest Ukrainian army officers during an operation in Simferopol, after the crisis moves from from political to military action between the two countries, after one Ukrainian serviceman has been shot dead

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Armed Russian forces arrest Ukrainian army officers during an operation in Simferopol, after the crisis moves from from political to military action between the two countries, after one Ukrainian serviceman has been shot dead

Armed Russian forces take part in a military operation at a Ukrainian military base in Simferopol, which led to the first act of bloodshed when a Ukrainian serviceman was shot dead

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Armed Russian forces take part in a military operation at a Ukrainian military base in Simferopol, which led to the first act of bloodshed when a Ukrainian serviceman was shot dead

An armed man clears a roof of an Ukrainian military unit in the Ukrainian military base, thought to be a Russian soldier instigating an act of war on behalf of his country

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An armed man clears a roof of an Ukrainian military unit in the Ukrainian military base, thought to be a Russian soldier instigating an act of war on behalf of his country

Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchnynov later issued a statement placing responsibility for 'the blood of Ukrainian soldiers on the leadership of the Russian Federation and specifically President Putin.'

Regional defence ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said the soldier died after being shot in the neck when a group of gunmen stormed a Ukrainian military base in the northeast of Crimea's main city of Simferopol.

The men that stormed the Ukrainian compound did not have direct markings apart from the truck, but they were wearing the military uniforms of Russian Federation servicemen.' Another soldier, part of the local Ukrainian self-defence brigade, was also shot, and died later, but there were no specifications as to whether the base was stormed by Russian soldiers or pro-Kremlin militia who also patrol the peninsula.

But the Ukrainian defence ministry said: 'For their self defence and protection of their lives, Ukrainian servicemen...deployed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are allowed to use arms.'

Ukrainian authorities have previously forbidden its Crimean soldiers from opening fire - in some cases forcing them to stand guard at their bases with empty rifles - in order not to provoke a Russian offensive that could spill into an all-out war.

The first soldier who was shot dead, indicating the first bloodshed of the now military conflict, was identified as warrant officer S. V. Kakurin.

Reports have emerged that the incident may have occurred when when the a pro-Russian militia attempted to climb a wall in the Ukrainian compound, and was told to get back by Ukrainian forces.

Russian soldiers then intervened and shots were fired, with one soldier being shot in the neck, dying on the scene, and another being wounded.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, reflecting Western worries that Putin's encroachment could spread farther in Ukraine and beyond, said 'The Russian moves were in flagrant breach of international law and send a chilling message across the continent of Europe.

'President Putin should be in no doubt that Russia will face more serious consequences.'

NATO has also condemned the activity, saying they are heading down 'a dangerous path'.

Armed Russian forces take part in the military operation - causing the first bloodshed in the escalating conflict between the two countries

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Armed Russian forces take part in the military operation - causing the first bloodshed in the escalating conflict between the two countries

The arrests of the Ukrainian military officers is not the first act of aggression by Russia but it is one of the most direct

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The arrests of the Ukrainian military officers is not the first act of aggression by Russia but it is one of the most direct

Unidentified armed men search an area close to an Ukrainian military unit in Simferopol, after  gunfire at the military facility in the capital of separatist Crimea killed one serviceman and a member of a local self-defense brigade

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Unidentified armed men search an area close to an Ukrainian military unit in Simferopol, after gunfire at the military facility in the capital of separatist Crimea killed one serviceman and a member of a local self-defense brigade

The shooting has caused Ukraine to strengthen their frontier defences in response to the seizure of Crimea, digging anti-tank trenches across a stretch of a highway that links Russia to Ukraine.

In addition, they put a stretch of anti-tank chicane of house high concrete blocks to strengthen the area, in a move that was to show the media they are ready for an attack.

Sergeant Olesky Romanenko, a soldier on the border, said: 'We are ready to defend out country.'

While there was no sign of large unit armed activity in the region, a few military trucks and armoured vehicles were seen moving around in the area.

Border guards are instead more concerned about what Kiev calls 'Kremlin agents' from Russia to spread dissent and spark violent street clashes in the Russian-speaking cities of Donetsk and Khariv.

Ukraine says these agent's goals are to 'turn local people against the leaders in Kiev', in order to justify Moscow moving to 'protect' ethnic Russians, as in Crimea.

Many civilians are worried about the border for more economic reasons, with one businessman, Sergei Alexandrovich, from Rostov, saying 'We've got very good economic relations.

'It would be very bad for business if the border closes.'

Another said: 'This is a tense situation.

'It's all a political game in which ordinary people are suffering.'

Many unmarked soldiers stormed the Ukrainian compound inside Crimea, but experts have said while they did not bear markings, they were identified as wearing military uniforms that are worn by the servicemen of the Russian Federation

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Many unmarked soldiers stormed the Ukrainian compound inside Crimea, but experts have said while they did not bear markings, they were identified as wearing military uniforms that are worn by the servicemen of the Russian Federation

The truck used in the storming of the Ukrainian compound bore Russian markings, which has led the Ukrainian defence ministry to believe the attackers were Russian

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The truck used in the storming of the Ukrainian compound bore Russian markings, which has led the Ukrainian defence ministry to believe the attackers were Russian

Armed members of the Russian forces wait outside as Ukrainian soldiers stand guard inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol. Previously the Ukrainian forces had been told not to fire at advancing Russian forces, but have now been given the go-ahead for armed self-defence

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Armed members of the Russian forces wait outside as Ukrainian soldiers stand guard inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Simferopol. Previously the Ukrainian forces had been told not to fire at advancing Russian forces, but have now been given the go-ahead for armed self-defence

Most of the Russian's offensive has bee blockades, as have they slowly but surely block off the vital Ukrainian military forces that would be needed to wage a war

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Most of the Russian's offensive has bee blockades, as have they slowly but surely block off the vital Ukrainian military forces that would be needed to wage a war

The dispute between the two countries has been largely cold, with posturing on both sides and no active combat, and the death of the Ukrainian soldier today may be the catalyst that pushes the escalating crisis to war

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The dispute between the two countries has been largely cold, with posturing on both sides and no active combat, and the death of the Ukrainian soldier today may be the catalyst that pushes the escalating crisis to war

Ukraine said one of its soldiers was killed in Crimea today in the first case of bloodshed since Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militia seized the rebel peninsula almost three weeks ago

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Ukraine said one of its soldiers was killed in Crimea today in the first case of bloodshed since Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militia seized the rebel peninsula almost three weeks ago

The highly armed Russian forces have been taking part in military operations all over Ukrainian territory, even before Putin ordered the annexing of Crimea, but this incidence is the first of shots being fired and striking a living target

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The highly armed Russian forces have been taking part in military operations all over Ukrainian territory, even before Putin ordered the annexing of Crimea, but this incidence is the first of shots being fired and striking a living target

There has been no immediate reaction to the reported death from either Russian authorities in Moscow or the peninsula's rebel leadership.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree to add Crimea to the Russian map today as the Ukrainian army officer was shot dead in the region.

With Ukraine vowing it will fight to protect the Black Sea peninsula, the incident will spark fears the two countries are edging ever closer to war.

But since Putin signed the degree, workers have already started dismantling the autonomous Crimean government, despite many powerful international figures claiming they do not recognise the annexing which came into affect as a product of the signing.

Workers started with the signs on the building of Crimean Parliament building, taking down the gold-coloured metal letters that indicated the building's status, and the country's status, as independent.

Since the decree was signed, workers have begun dismantling the autonomous government of Crimea, starting with the signs

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Since the decree was signed, workers have begun dismantling the autonomous government of Crimea, starting with the signs

Workmen change the lettering on the Parliament building to a sign that reads 'Crimean Autonomous Council', only days after the vote and mere hours after the annexing of Crimea

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Workmen change the lettering on the Parliament building to a sign that reads 'Crimean Autonomous Council', only days after the vote and mere hours after the annexing of Crimea

The dismantled Crimean Parliament signs. President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Crimea signed a treaty accepting the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of the Russian territory

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The dismantled Crimean Parliament signs. President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Crimea signed a treaty accepting the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of the Russian territory

WORLDWIDE REACTION TO THE ANNEXING OF CRIMEA

UNITED STATES

White House spokesman Jay Carney- 'We condemn Russia's moves to formally annex' Crimea. 'With sanctions already designated against Russian officials, there are more to come.'

US President Barack Obama, who then called on members of the G7 - minus G8 member Russia - to join him in The Hague to discuss the crisis next week - 'The Crimean 'referendum,' which violates the Ukrainian constitution and occurred under duress of Russian military intervention, (will) never be recognised by the United States and the international community.'

US Vice President Joe Biden - 'Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab.'

BRITAIN

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, announcing that Britain will suspend all bilateral military cooperation with Russia - 'It was regrettable to hear President Putin today choosing the route of isolation' -

GERMANY

German Chancellor Angela Merkel - '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.

'The so-called referendum breached international law, the declaration of independence which the Russian president accepted yesterday was against international law, and the absorption into the Russian Federation is, in our firm opinion, also against international law.'

EUROPEAN UNION

EU president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission head Jose Manuel - 'The European Union does neither recognise the illegal and illegitimate referendum in Crimea nor its outcome.

'The European Union does not and will not recognise the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation.'

UKRAINE

Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov - 'Russia is playing a dirty game to annex Crimea. World War II began with the annexation by Nazi Germany of other countries' territories. Today, Putin is following the example of 20th century fascists.'

FRANCE

French President Francois Hollande - 'France does not recognise the results of the referendum held in Crimea on March 16, or the annexation of this region of Ukraine to Russia.'

Kerry: Putin's rhetoric doesn't jibe with reality

Another demonstrator in Sevastopol holds the hammer and sickle in the same hand as the flag of the Russian Federation as crowds celebrate their decision to secede from Ukraine following the Western-backed coup

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Another demonstrator in Sevastopol holds the hammer and sickle in the same hand as the flag of the Russian Federation as crowds celebrate their decision to secede from Ukraine following the Western-backed coup

Tsar Vladimir: Thousands of pro-Russian people watch Putin's speech on big screens in Sevastopol

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Tsar Vladimir: Thousands of pro-Russian people watch Putin's speech on big screens in Sevastopol

The incident came after Vladmir Putin gave a firebrand speech that both encouraged his country to recapture old former-Soviet territories, and warned the West not to get in the way or interfere.

Russian politicians and media were last night demanding Putin go further, grabbing back more former Soviet regions and states.

The nationalistic frenzy whipped up by the return of Crimea - in defiance of the West - led to calls on state-run TV for Moscow to take back oil and gas-rich Kazakhstan and authoritarian Belarus as well as more slices of a battered Ukraine, already filleted by the Kremlin.

Putin was last night riding the crest of an adulatory wave after righting what many Russians see as an historical wrong and reintegrating Crimea and the Black Sea fleet headquarters of Sevastopol back in to Russia after a gap of 60 years.

Putin told the joint session of the Russian parliament that he would not accept NATO 'next to our home or on our historic territories'.

He also accused the West of hypocrisy in pushing for self-determination for Kosovo but denying Crimea, he said the peninsula had been 'robbed' from Russia in Soviet times while 'regions of Russia's historic south' were only now Ukrainian because of a Bolshevik blunder.

In an emotional and historic address he said: 'In the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.'

CRIMEA: A RUSSIAN STATE ONCE MORE

PUTIN'S DECLARATIONS

'In people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia,' Putin declared in his emotional speech, dismissing Western criticism of Sunday.

Putin said his actions followed what he described as Western arrogance, hypocrisy and pressure, and warned that the West must drop its stubborn refusal to take Russian concerns into account.

Addressing the West, Putin said: 'If you push a spring too hard at some point it will spring back.

'You always need to remember this.'

While Putin boasted that the Russian takeover of Crimea was conducted without a single shot, a Ukrainian military spokesman argued that the Ukrainian serviceman who was killed when the military facility in Crimea was stormed just hours after Putin's speech indicated Putin, and Russia, had officially committed a war crime.

'We don't want a division of Ukraine, we don't need that.'

Regarding the West again, Putin said: 'They have constantly tried to drive us into a corner for our independent stance," Putin said. "But there are limits. And in the case of Ukraine, our Western partners have crossed a line.

'They have behaved rudely, irresponsibly and unprofessionally.'

Putin said that the Soviet collapse made Russians 'the largest divided people in the world.

'I have heard residents of Crimea say that back in 1991 they were handed over like a sack of potatoes.

'What about Russia? It lowered its head and accepted the situation, swallowing the insult. Our country was going through such hard times then that it simply was incapable of defending its interests.'


HISTORY OF CRIMEA

Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954, a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet breakup.

Both Russians and Crimea's majority ethnic Russian population see annexation as correcting a historic insult. Putin argued that today's Ukraine included 'regions of Russia's historic south' and was created on a whim by the Bolsheviks.

But despite the massing of thousands of Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border, Putin insisted his nation had no intention of invading other regions in Ukraine.

Putin says Crimea returns to its 'Home Port' of Russia

 

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary William Hague said President Vladimir Putin had chosen the 'route of isolation' by signing a treaty annexing Crimea just two days after a hastily arranged referendum on the breakaway peninsula.

He said: 'We should be ready to contemplate a new state of relations between Russia and the West in the coming years that is different from the last 20 years.

'This is a relationship that would be one in which institutions such as G8 are working without Russia, and military cooperation and defence exports are permanently curtailed, in which decisions are accelerated to reduce European dependence on Russian energy exports.

'We have suspended all such military cooperation.'

Britain was also suspending all existing licences for the export of arms to Russia, because it fears the equipment could be used by Russian forces against Ukraine.

Hague said Britain encouraged other EU states to take similar action.

Hague said Britain was scaling back military ties with Russia, which were only recently revived after relations between the two countries were almost halted by the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

The EU has also been hindered by Russian activity, with Herman Van Rompuy cancelling a confidential meeting that was meant to take place between him and Russia.

'The mission was cancelled because the Russians made it public,' a diplomat said.

Another diplomat added: 'We must find a solution as quickly as possible to stop a return to the Cold War.'

Sanctions against Russia instituted by the U.S. have been condemned by John Kerry's Russian counterpart Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that Western sanctions against Moscow over Crimea were 'absolutely unacceptable', and said there would be consequences.

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Putin: Crimea will be part of Russia

On the crest of a wave: Russian President Vladimir Putin stands next to Crimean Premier Sergey Aksionov as he addresses a rally in Red Square, Moscow, celebrating  Crimea's decision to join with Russia

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On the crest of a wave: Russian President Vladimir Putin stands next to Crimean Premier Sergey Aksionov as he addresses a rally in Red Square, Moscow, celebrating Crimea's decision to join with Russia

Ukrainian soldiers guard a gate of an infantry base in Privolnoye, Ukraine

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Ukrainian soldiers guard a gate of an infantry base in Privolnoye, Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a treaty for Crimea to join Russia

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Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a treaty for Crimea to join Russia

Many Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea have been under the control of Russian forces for several weeks after Russian troops poured into the Black Sea peninsula ahead of a referendum at the weekend which handed over control from Ukraine to Russia.

Yatseniuk said he had ordered Ukraine's defence minister to call a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, France, and Russia - signatories to a 1994 treaty guaranteeing Ukraine's borders to 'prevent an escalation of the conflict'.

Mr Putin defiantly added Crimea to the map of Russia despite protests among the international community.

In the emotional 40-minute speech televised live from the Kremlin, Mr Putin claimed the move corrected past injustice and responded to what he called Western encroachment his country's vital interests.

A Russian girl holds a Russian national flag during rally celebrating Crimea and Sevastopol joining Russia on Red Square

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A Russian girl holds a Russian national flag during rally celebrating Crimea and Sevastopol joining Russia on Red Square

Russians hold flags showing Russian President Vladimir Putin and the slogan reading 'We are together!'

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Russians hold flags showing Russian President Vladimir Putin and the slogan reading 'We are together!'

People attend a rally called 'We are together' to support the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea to Russia at the Red Square in central Moscow

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People attend a rally called 'We are together' to support the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea to Russia at the Red Square in central Moscow

An elderly woman holds a calendar depicting Soviet leader Josef Stalin while watching a large screen showing a broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech

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An elderly woman holds a calendar depicting Soviet leader Josef Stalin while watching a large screen showing a broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech

He said Crimea had remained 'in people's hearts and minds, and has always been an integral part of Russia.'

Mr Putin dismissed Western criticism of Sunday's Crimean referendum - in which residents of the strategic Black Sea peninsula overwhelmingly backed breaking off from Ukraine and joining Russia - as a manifestation of the West's double standards.

Mr Putin said the move followed what he described as Western pressure, arrogance and its stubborn refusal to take Russian concerns into account.

THE FRIGHTENING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PUTIN'S AND HITLER'S SPEECHES

VLADMIR PUTIN

Putin claimed he would not invade other parts of Eastern Ukraine if Russia is allowed to exercise influence.

Putin said: ‘Don’t believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other (Ukrainian) regions will follow after Crimea.

‘We do not want a partition of Ukraine, we do not need this.’

ADOLF HITLER

Hitler also claimed that his ambitions would stop at the Sudetenland.

‘What more is wanted? I have declared that the frontier between France and Germany is a final one. Germany has no interests in the West, and our western wall is for all time the frontier of the Reich on the west.

‘Moreover, we have no aims of any kind there for the future.’

Five months later he invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, 19 months later he invaded France.

Adolf Hitler

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladmir Putin's speech bore remarkable similarities to the words spoken during Adolf Hitler's speech where he spoke about the Nazi seizure of the Sudetenland

Russian President Vladimir Putin (second right), Crimea's Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov (front left), Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov (back left) and Sevastopol Mayor Alexei Chaliy shake hands after a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (second right), Crimea's Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov (front left), Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov (back left) and Sevastopol Mayor Alexei Chaliy shake hands after a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow

'If you push a spring too hard at some point it will spring back,' he said, addressing the West. 'You always need to remember this.'

But the Russian leader insisted his nation has no intention of invading other regions of Ukraine.

'We don't want a division of Ukraine, we don't need that,' he said.

He also accused the United States of being guided in its foreign policy not by international law but by the 'rule of the gun.'

Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard outside a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye in Crimea

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Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard outside a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoye in Crimea

President Vladimir Putin pushed every emotional button of the collective Russian psyche as he justified the incorporation of Crimea, citing everything from ancient history to Russia's demand for respect to Western double standards

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President Vladimir Putin pushed every emotional button of the collective Russian psyche as he justified the incorporation of Crimea, citing everything from ancient history to Russia's demand for respect to Western double standards

A Ukrainian interim forces officer (right) talks to recruits during their exercises not far from Kiev

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A Ukrainian interim forces officer (right) talks to recruits during their exercises not far from Kiev

THE ODD MAN OUT: RUSSIA IN THE G8 GROUP OF WORLD POWERS

What is the G8?

The G8, otherwise known as the Group of Eight, is an assembly of world leaders who meet annually to discuss global issues.  Each year, the G8 holds a Leaders’ Summit, in which Heads of State and Government of member countries meet to discuss and attempt to reconcile global issues.

What countries are members?

The G-8 includes the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada. Russia joined to form the G-8 in the 1990s, but has been a bit of an odd man out at their annual meetings.

Is the G8 important?

Yes, but the G-8 has been eclipsed in recent years by the G-20, which includes China and emerging markets and was created to better represent the drivers of the 21st century global economy.

When did it last meet?

Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, USA and UK met at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland for the G8 Summit in June 2013.

When will it next meet?

Russia has the G-8's rotating leadership and is scheduled to host a summit in Sochi in June, but the other members already had suspended preparations for that meeting over objections to Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

Ukraine's parliament has approved the partial mobilisation of troops to counter 'Russian interference' on its soil

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Ukraine's parliament has approved the partial mobilisation of troops to counter 'Russian interference' on its soil

A Ukrainian interim forces officer (left) supervises recruits during a shooting exercise

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A Ukrainian interim forces officer (left) supervises recruits during a shooting exercise

Members of Ukrainian self-defense forces march during their training on the Novi Petrivtsi shooting range near Kiev

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Members of Ukrainian self-defense forces march during their training on the Novi Petrivtsi shooting range near Kiev

At the same time, Mr Putin also argued that today's Ukraine included 'regions of Russia's historic south' and was created on a whim by the Bolsheviks - a clear warning to both the new Ukrainian government in Kiev and to the West to respect Russia's interests.

In response, Ukraine's new government called Mr Putin a threat to the whole world and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned that the U.S. and Europe will impose further sanctions against Moscow.

'The world has seen through Russia's actions and has rejected the flawed logic,' Biden said, meeting Tuesday with anxious European leaders in Poland.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague makes a statement to the House of Commons as MPs debate the ongoing situation in Ukraine

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British Foreign Secretary William Hague makes a statement to the House of Commons as MPs debate the ongoing situation in Ukraine

SHOTS FIRED AND UKRAINIAN AIR COMMANDER TAKEN IN CRIMEA

Armed men came to a Ukrainian military airfield in the Crimean peninsula, fired shots in the air and took away the base's commanding officer, a military spokesman said.

The incident happened late on Monday at Belbek airport just outside the naval port of Sevastopol.

'Unknown armed people came to the base late on Monday, shots were fired in the air and the commanding officer was taken away in an unknown direction,' Vladislav Seleznov, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, a group of about 30 members of the so-called 'Crimean Self-Defense' came to a compound of apartment blocks that houses families of Ukrainian servicemen and took its commander away, Seleznov said.

'They were there about 30 minutes ... They took away the commander of the compound, Lt. Colonel Vladislav Nechiporenko, in a yellow mini-van,' he said.

The two incidents could not be independently verified.

Seleznov could not say whether the incidents amounted to a violation of last week's truce in Crimea reached between the defence ministries of Ukraine and Russia that is scheduled to last until March 21.
'Today's statement by Mr Putin showed in high relief what a real threat Russia is for the civilized world and international security,' Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Evhen Perebinis said on Twitter.

'(The annexation) has nothing to do with law or with democracy or sensible thinking.'

Thousands of Russian troops have been massed along Ukraine's eastern border for the last few weeks - Russia says that was for military training while the U.S. and Europe view the troops as an intimidation tactic.

'If Ukraine goes to NATO or the EU, Mr Putin will do everything so that it goes there without the east and south,' said Vadim Karasyov, a Kiev-based political analyst.

'Mr Putin basically told the West that Russia has the right to veto the way Ukraine will develop. And if not, then Crimea is only a precedent of how pieces of Ukraine can be chopped off one by one.'

Mr Putin argued the months of protests in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev that prompted President Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia had been instigated by the West in order to weaken Russia.

He cast the new Ukrainian government as illegitimate, driven by radical 'nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites.'

With strong emotion, Mr Putin accused the West of cheating Russia and ignoring its interests in the years that followed the 1991 Soviet collapse.

'They have constantly tried to drive us into a corner for our independent stance, for defending it, for calling things their proper names and not being hypocritical,' Mr Putin said.

'But there are limits. And in the case of Ukraine, our Western partners have crossed a line. They behaved rudely, irresponsibly and unprofessionally.'

Following the speech before lawmakers and top officials, Mr Putin and Crimean officials signed a treaty for the region to join Russia.

The treaty will have to be endorsed by Russia's Constitutional Court and ratified by both houses of parliament, but Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of upper house of Russian parliament, said the procedure could be completed by the end of the week.

Putin: Crimea will be part of Russia

Ukrainian interim forces officer new recruits learn techniques of unarmed combat

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Ukrainian interim forces officer new recruits learn techniques of unarmed combat

Kiev had called last week for the initial mobilisation of reservists and approved the creation of a new National Guard of 60,000 volunteers, as Russian forces encircled Ukrainian military bases in Crimea

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Kiev had called last week for the initial mobilisation of reservists and approved the creation of a new National Guard of 60,000 volunteers, as Russian forces encircled Ukrainian military bases in Crimea

New recruits: The nation has only some 6,000 combat-ready soldiers

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New recruits: The nation has only some 6,000 combat-ready soldiers

Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954. Both Russians and Crimea's majority ethnic Russian population see annexation as correcting a historic insult.

In his speech at the Kremlin's white-and-gold St. George hall, which was often interrupted by applause, Mr Putin said the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine had been abused by the new Ukrainian government. He insisted that Crimea's vote Sunday to join Russia was in line with international law and reflected its right for self-determination.

To back that claim, Mr Putin pointed to Kosovo's independence bid from Serbia - supported by the West and opposed by Russia - and said Crimea's secession from Ukraine repeats Ukraine's own secession from the Soviet Union in 1991.

He denied Western accusations that Russia invaded Crimea prior to the referendum, saying Russian troops were sent there in line with a treaty with Ukraine that allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops at its Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea.

The hastily called Crimean vote was held just two weeks after Russian troops had overtaken the Black Sea peninsula, blockading Ukrainian soldiers at their bases.

The West and Ukraine described the referendum as illegitimate and being held at gunpoint, but residents on the peninsula voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

THE KOSOVO WAR: FEBRUARY 1998 TO JUNE 1999

Kosovo is the disputed land which lies on the border of Serbia and Albania.

War broke out there in February 1998 when forces under Yugoslav President Solbodan Milosevic tried to suppress an campaign for independence by the ethnic Albanians in the country. Fighting continued in the region until June 1999.

A deal to end the crisis - negotiated by the international community in 1999 - was rejected by Milosevic.

His continued persecution of the Albanians prompted NATO to intervene, launching air strikes against targets in Kosovo and Serbia in March of that year.

At the same time a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Kosovo Albanians began.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled across the border to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro.

After 11 weeks of Nato bombings, Milosevic was forced to withdraw his troops. The UN was put in charge, until agreement could be reached on whether Kosovo would become indepdent or revert to Serbian control.

In May 1999 Milosevic became the first serving head of state to be indicted for crimes against humanity, by the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

Speaking in Donetsk, the center of the Donbass coal-mining region in eastern Ukraine, 37-year-old businessman Aleksei Gavrilov hailed Crimea joining Russia and said Donbass also historically belonged to Russia.

'Ukraine is just a made-up , fake project which was created to destroy Russia,' he said. 'Everything that Mr Putin said is perfectly correct and I support him completely!'

Igor Nosenko, a bar manager, watched Mr Putin's speech in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
'It seems that I am in some kind of surrealist world when a person is saying that white is black,' he said. 'In fact, it can be very dangerous, it can be dangerous for the whole world since it is absolutely unclear what this person (Mr Putin) has in his head.'

The United States and the European Union on Monday announced asset freezes and other sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials involved in the Crimean crisis. President Barack Obama warned that more would come if Russia didn't stop interfering in Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Europe-1 radio leaders of the Group of Eight world powers 'decided to suspend Russia's participation.'

In his speech, Mr Putin made it clear that Russia wouldn't be deterred by Western sanctions, and asked China and India for their support.

The Russian State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution condemning U.S. sanctions targeting Russian officials including members of the chamber.

The chamber challenged Obama to extend the sanctions to all the 353 deputies who voted for Tuesday's resolution, suggesting that being targeted was a badge of honor. Eighty-eight deputies left the house before the vote.

Mr Putin found support even in unusual places. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hailed Crimea's vote to join Russia as a 'happy event.'

In remarks Tuesday by online newspaper Slon.ru, he said Crimea's vote could also be an example for people in Ukraine's Russian-speaking eastern region.

The first volunteers enroll in the Ukraine National Guard in Kiev

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Pro-Ukrainian activists  demonstrate during the European foreign affairs ministers council, near EU headquarters in Brussels

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The first volunteers enroll in the Ukraine National Guard in Kiev (left) and (right) pro-Ukrainian activists demonstrate during the European foreign affairs ministers council, near EU headquarters in Brussels

A man holding a Soviet era red flag salutes in front of the parliament building after the end of the referendum in Simferopol, Crimea

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A man holding a Soviet era red flag salutes in front of the parliament building after the end of the referendum in Simferopol, Crimea

Many in Crimea's ethnic Tatar minority were wary of the referendum, fearing that Crimea's break-off from Ukraine will set off violence against them.

Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev seemed to confirm those fears, saying in remarks carried by the RIA Novosti news agency that the government would ask Tatars to 'vacate' some of the lands they 'illegally' occupy so authorities can use them for 'social needs.'

But Mr Putin on Tuesday vowed to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars and keep their language as one of Crimea's official tongues, along with Russian and Ukrainian.

Meanwhile, the White House said the G7 world economic powers need to consider whether Moscow should keep its membership in their organisation.

Mr Obama wants to gather leaders of the G7 nations and the European Union to meet on the sidelines of a nuclear summit next week in the Netherlands.

Russia is one of 53 countries which will participate in the nuclear meeting in The Hague.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the meeting that Obama 'will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G-7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine.'

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves as he arrives at the Okecie military airport in Warsaw, Poland

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U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves as he arrives at the Okecie military airport in Warsaw, Poland

Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet President, has praised Mr Putin's stance over the Crimea

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Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet President, has praised Mr Putin's stance over the Crimea

It comes as the leaders of the G8 world powers said today they have suspended Russia's participation in the club amid the tensions, France's foreign minister said today.

The other seven members of the group had already suspended preparations for a G8 summit that Russia is scheduled to host in Sochi in June.

France's Laurent Fabius went further today, saying on Europe-1 radio that 'concerning the G8... we decided to suspend Russia's participation, and it is envisaged that all the other countries, the seven leading countries, will unite without Russia'.

Also today, Serhiy Taruta, governor of the eastern city of Donetsk, warned: 'We're going to have a war. Our people will take up arms and they will protect our country.

'A short distance away, thousands of Russian troops have been carrying out manoeuvres for the past few days.

'If they decide to come into Ukraine, this is the way they'll come - and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them.'

Ukrainian border guards patrol the road on the administrative border of Crimea and Ukraine not far the village of Strilkove in the Kherson region

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Ukrainian border guards patrol the road on the administrative border of Crimea and Ukraine not far the village of Strilkove in the Kherson region

Ukrainian border guards search a truck at a check point on the administrative border of Crimea and Ukraine

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Ukrainian border guards search a truck at a check point on the administrative border of Crimea and Ukraine

Today, Ukraine unveiled the first 500 recruits to its newly-formed National Guard and paraded them on Kiev's Independence Square.

Ukraine's military is trying to raise a force of 40,000.

The nation has only some 6,000 combat-ready soldiers, but parliament on March 17 approved $670million (£400million) in emergency funding.

On Sunday, Crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and seek to join Russia. The West and Ukraine described the referendum, which was announced two weeks ago, as illegitimate.

UKRAINE 'WON'T SEEK MEMBERSHIP OF NATO', NEW LEADERS SAYS

Ukraine's new pro-Western leadership is not seeking membership of NATO, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said today.

Yatseniuk, who came to office after the removal of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich, also said decentralisation of power was a key plank of government policy, adding Kiev's efforts to integrate with Europe would take into account the interests of Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking industrial east.

'Strictly with a view to maintaining Ukraine's unity, the question of joining NATO is not on the agenda,' Yatseniuk, who normally speaks in Ukrainian, said in a 10-minute televised appeal delivered in Russian.

'The country will be defended by a strong, modern Ukrainian army.'

Kiev pursued a policy of closer ties with the U.S.-led NATO alliance before Yanukovich took power in 2010. Yanukovich then formally scrapped the idea of Ukraine's eventual membership of NATO, declaring 'non-bloc' neutrality for his nation of 46 million sandwiched between Russia and the European Union.

Yesterday, the United States and the European Union announced asset freezes and other sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials involved in the Crimean crisis.

President Barack Obama warned that more would come if Russia did not stop interfering in Ukraine. Russian troops have been occupying the region for more than two weeks.

But the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin spoken out defiantly on the sanctions, threatening to move business elsewhere.

Igor Sechin, the head of Russia's largest oil company, told Russian news agencies today that he is not afraid of potential sanctions, calling them 'evidence of powerlessness'.

Rosneft and Russian companies should not fear sanctions either, Mr Sechin insisted, saying 'Russian companies can move their business elsewhere' away from the US and Europe.
Russia is a major oil supplier for Europe.

Malcolm Rifkind, who chairs the British parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, told the BBC the sanctions were 'pathetic'.

He said: 'All that the international community has done so far is implement visa sanctions and asset freezes on 22 or 23 individuals - that is a pathetic response.'

Mr Rifkind, a senior lawmaker in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, said the United States and European Union should get tougher with Putin, preferably with 'very robust financial sanctions'.

'Now it may be that as a result of what might happen that there will be a much tougher response including financial sanctions. If so that will be the right response,' he said.

'But I hear very disturbing signs that it is unlikely there will be European consensus on that: that we might say 'well only if Russia invades eastern Ukraine will it be necessary to go further'. That would be a shameful and very dangerous response.'

Russia, however, still has a chance to back off. The treaty to annex Crimea has to be signed by leaders of Russia and Crimea, approved by the Constitutional Court and then be ratified by the parliament.

Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954.

Both Russians and Crimea's majority ethnic Russian population see annexation as correcting a historic insult.

He added that the Crimean poll has set an example for people in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, who should also decide their fate.

Mr Gorbachev, 83, who resigned as the Soviet president on Christmas Day 1991, has voiced regret that he was unable to stem the Soviet Union's collapse.

He has criticised Mr Putin's authoritarian policy, but said today that he supports his course in the Ukrainian crisis.

Ukraine's turmoil, which began in November with a wave of protests against President Viktor Yanukovych and accelerated after he fled to Russia in late February, has become Europe's most severe security crisis in years.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have responded caustically to Western sanctions against officials involved in moves to annex Crimea, urging the United States and European Union to impose the same penalties on hundreds more members of parliament.

A declaration adopted unanimously by the State Duma lower house said: 'We propose to Mr Obama and the ... Eurobureaucrats to include all State Duma deputies who voted in favour of this resolution on the list of Russian citizens affected by U.S. and EU sanctions.'

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Poland on a trip designed to show America's resolve against Russia's intervention in neighbouring Ukraine.

He landed in Warsaw, where he planned to have talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski. He will also meet Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

The meetings with the Nato allies are part of a broader US campaign to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to back off in Ukraine. The US is imposing the most comprehensive sanctions against Russian officials since the Cold War.

Later today, Mr Biden will fly to the Baltic nation of Lithuania to meet President Dalia Grybauskaite and Latvian President Andris Berzins.

Latvia and Estonia share borders with Russia, and Poland and Lithuania are nearby.

A REGION WORTH FIGHTING FOR? WHY RUSSIA COVETS THE CRIMEA

Flashpoint: A picture of soldiers during the Crimean War, circa 1855

Flashpoint: A picture of soldiers during the Crimean War, circa 1855

Crimea is a region synonymous with military glory for Russians, imperial and Soviet.

Catherine the Great first annexed the region in 1783 after defeating the Ottoman Turks and built a naval base and the city Sevastopol. The Russian Black Sea fleet has been there ever since.

What Crimea is best remembered for in the West is the Crimean War of the 1850s. The conflict was initially between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire but drew in Britain and France.

It ended with the Treaty of London of 1856.

The region only became part of Ukraine in 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was himself Ukrainian-born, signed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from Russia. Pro-Kremlin campaigners call this a 'historical accident'.

Ethnic, cultural and religious ties are also very Russian, leading some pro-Kremlin Crimeans to freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation.

Currently, there are two million ethnic Russians who live on the peninsula, making up almost 60 per cent of the population.

Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars – the peninsula's original Turkic-speaking Muslim inhabitants – account for the rest.

But it has not always been that way.

By 1900 Crimean Tatars, previously the major population, had been reduced to half of residents. After the Soviet revolution they were reduced to a quarter.

The Crimea has remained a stable feature of geopolitics for over a century and a half

The Crimea has remained a stable feature of geopolitics for over a century and a half

Then Stalin forcibly deported many of them to Central Asia and replaced them with Slavs from Russia or Russian-influenced parts of eastern Ukraine.

As a result Crimea was largely 'russified' over the two centuries after its incorporation into the Russian Empire and its indigenous Muslim population swamped or displaced.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Tatars remained or have returned, but they are still a minority numbering about 15 per cent of the population.

They reject the notion of union with Russia and are loyal to Kiev – another volatile element in an already combustible ethnic mix.

Most of Stalin's newcomers were from poor urban backgrounds; they moved into homes vacated by deportees and had weak ties with Ukraine.

They freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation.

'It's a myth that Ukraine is not part of Russia. We don't believe it,' Oleg Rodilov, a pro-Russian MP in Crimea's autonomous parliament said in 2008.

It would be wrong to accuse him of 'separatism', he added. 'For you, Ukraine and Russia are a priori different states. For us they are a priori the same,' he said.

The links of culture, language and Orthodox religion made Ukraine and Russia an indivisible entity, he said. Also, both countries were Slavic, he said. 'We don't believe there is any difference. We have been together for 350 years.'

Ukraine's recent civil conflict has fanned this tension in Crimea.

 

 

Control of Crimea, currently an autonomous republic within Ukraine, has shifted many times throughout its history. The Black Sea peninsula had at one point or another been home to Greeks, Scythians, Goths, Huns, Golden Horde Tatars and the Mongols, just to name a few. The Russian Empire wrested control of Crimea from the Ottomans and French and British armies during the Crimean War (1853–1856). Sevastopol was the site of bloody, protracted sieges during both the Crimean War and World War II, when the city held out against Nazi forces for eight months from October 1941 until July 1942. After the Soviet Army finally drove out the Germans in 1944, Joseph Stalin’s government forcibly relocated the entire population of Crimean Tatars to Central Asia for supposedly collaborating with the Nazis. During the height of the Soviet Union, on February 19, 1954, Nikita Khrushchev transferred the Crimean Oblast fromRussia to Ukraine, largely a symbolic gesture at the time. Russia’s historic ties to Crimea and its economic and strategic interest has put the territory at the heart of East-West conflict in Ukraine ever since.

Description of  1855:  Victorious soldiers (Zouaves) pose after the taking of Malakoff in the Crimea.  (Photo by Felice A Beato/Getty Images)

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1855: Victorious soldiers (Zouaves) pose after the taking of Malakoff in the Crimea. (Photo by Felice A Beato/Getty Images) #

Description of  25th October 1854:  Charge of the heavy cavalry at Balaklava, in the Crimea. Original Artwork: Engraving by J J Crewe.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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25th October 1854: Charge of the heavy cavalry at Balaklava, in the Crimea. Original Artwork: Engraving by J J Crewe. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  The British 4th Light Dragoons encamped in the Crimea, circa 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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The British 4th Light Dragoons encamped in the Crimea, circa 1855. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  1855 - Group of Tatars at work repairing roadway in Balaklava; wooden hut, "Store 14th Regiment", in the background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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1855 - Group of Tatars at work repairing roadway in Balaklava; wooden hut, "Store 14th Regiment", in the background. (Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) #

Description of  A French vivandiere, or cantiniere, with French soldiers in the Crimea during the Crimean War, 1855. Vivandieres were women attached to regiments as canteen keepers and as unofficial nursing staff. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A French vivandiere, or cantiniere, with French soldiers in the Crimea during the Crimean War, 1855. Vivandieres were women attached to regiments as canteen keepers and as unofficial nursing staff. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  circa 1855:  Officers of the 89th Regiment, Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers, at Cathcart's Hill in the Crimea.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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circa 1855: Officers of the 89th Regiment, Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers, at Cathcart's Hill in the Crimea. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  19th June 1869:  A Tartar shepherd-boy in the Crimea.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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19th June 1869: A Tartar shepherd-boy in the Crimea. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) #

Description of  A group of Ukrainian peasants at Yalta, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union, July 1930. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A group of Ukrainian peasants at Yalta, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union, July 1930. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)#

Description of  MASSANDRA, UKRAINE:  A picture taken at the beginning of the 19th century shows the last Russian Tsar and founder of the Massandra winery Nicolas II (L) walking along his vineyards in Massandra, not far from the Crimean resort of Yalta. MASSANDRA WINERY/AFP/Getty Images

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MASSANDRA, UKRAINE: A picture taken at the beginning of the 19th century shows the last Russian Tsar and founder of the Massandra winery Nicolas II (L) walking along his vineyards in Massandra, not far from the Crimean resort of Yalta. MASSANDRA WINERY/AFP/Getty Images #

Description of  As the German invasion of the Ukraine continues, soldiers of the invading Wehrmacht troops are seen in the cover of a shell-marked wall, at an unknown location on the Crimean peninsula, in November 1941. (AP Photo)

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As the German invasion of the Ukraine continues, soldiers of the invading Wehrmacht troops are seen in the cover of a shell-marked wall, at an unknown location on the Crimean peninsula, in November 1941. (AP Photo) #

Description of  22nd November 1941:  Locals watch as a German column passes through the city of Simferopol, the Crimean capital, which they had captured on 2 November.  (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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22nd November 1941: Locals watch as a German column passes through the city of Simferopol, the Crimean capital, which they had captured on 2 November. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) #

Description of  As the  German invasion of the southern Ukraine continues, soldiers of an advance division are seen at an unknown village, somewhere between the Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea, on March 12, 1941. A military convoy is moving down a street in the background. AP Photo)

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As the German invasion of the southern Ukraine continues, soldiers of an advance division are seen at an unknown village, somewhere between the Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea, on March 12, 1941. A military convoy is moving down a street in the background. AP Photo) #

Description of  This picture shows Nazi Stuka bombers in flight heading towards their target over coastal territory between Dniepr and Crimea, towards the Gate of the Crimea on Nov. 6, 1941. Apparently the narrow neck of the Russian black-sea Peninsula ris where the Germans are reported to be steadily pushing forward.  (AP Photo)

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This picture shows Nazi Stuka bombers in flight heading towards their target over coastal territory between Dniepr and Crimea, towards the Gate of the Crimea on Nov. 6, 1941. Apparently the narrow neck of the Russian black-sea Peninsula ris where the Germans are reported to be steadily pushing forward. (AP Photo) #

Description of  The rock-like defence of Sevastopol, the Malta of the Crimea, on June 12, 1942, shows no signs of weakening under a new all-out offensive by General von Mannheim’s armies. Symbolic of the heroic garrison is this Russian girl sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who has killed by her accurate shooting the magnificent total of 300 Germans before Sevastopol. (AP Photo)

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The rock-like defence of Sevastopol, the Malta of the Crimea, on June 12, 1942, shows no signs of weakening under a new all-out offensive by General von Mannheim’s armies. Symbolic of the heroic garrison is this Russian girl sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who has killed by her accurate shooting the magnificent total of 300 Germans before Sevastopol. (AP Photo) #

Description of  The bodies of two fallen Soviet soldiers lie at roadside, while a truck of the Romanian Army, with an artillery gun in tow, advances towards the city of Kerch, in June 1942, during the Battle of the Crimea in World War II. (AP Photo)

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The bodies of two fallen Soviet soldiers lie at roadside, while a truck of the Romanian Army, with an artillery gun in tow, advances towards the city of Kerch, in June 1942, during the Battle of the Crimea in World War II. (AP Photo) #

Description of  October 1942:  German troops making a dash to escape in the Crimea are cut off by Russian forces. An armoured personnel carrier is seen rushing through a burning Russian village on their way to the Dnieper River.  (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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October 1942: German troops making a dash to escape in the Crimea are cut off by Russian forces. An armoured personnel carrier is seen rushing through a burning Russian village on their way to the Dnieper River. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) #

Description of  circa 1944:  Germans in the Crimea making their escape from the approaching Russians.  (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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circa 1944: Germans in the Crimea making their escape from the approaching Russians. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) #

Description of  February 1945:  American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), right, with Admiral William D. Leahy (1875 - 1959) and General George C. Marshall (1880 - 1950) at the conference in Yalta, in the Crimea. Russian premier Marshal Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953), left of centre at the table, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), with his back to the camera, are also amongst those present at the conference.  (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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February 1945: American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), right, with Admiral William D. Leahy (1875 - 1959) and General George C. Marshall (1880 - 1950) at the conference in Yalta, in the Crimea. Russian premier Marshal Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953), left of centre at the table, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), with his back to the camera, are also amongst those present at the conference. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) #

Description of  President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin, accompanied by Foreign Secretaries, Chiefs of Staff and other Advisors, met at Yalta in the Crimea in February 1945. (AP Photo)

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President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin, accompanied by Foreign Secretaries, Chiefs of Staff and other Advisors, met at Yalta in the Crimea in February 1945. (AP Photo) #

Description of  With their foreign secretaries behind them, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin sit on the patio of Livadia Palace, Yalta, Crimea, Feb. 4, 1945.  Standing, from left: Foreign Sec. Anthony Eden, Sec. of State Edward R. Stettinius, and Foreign Commissar Vyasheslav Molotov. (AP Photo)

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With their foreign secretaries behind them, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin sit on the patio of Livadia Palace, Yalta, Crimea, Feb. 4, 1945. Standing, from left: Foreign Sec. Anthony Eden, Sec. of State Edward R. Stettinius, and Foreign Commissar Vyasheslav Molotov. (AP Photo) #

Description of  circa 1950:  A shady bus stop in Yalta.  (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

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circa 1950: A shady bus stop in Yalta. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images) #

Description of  Black Sea Fleet sailor adjusts a former Soviet navy flag atop a fleet submarine, Wednesday, March 20, 1996 at the Sevastopol naval base, the Crimea, Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine so far have failed to divide their shares of the fleet ships, which still carry old Soviet naval flags along with Russian ones. (AP Photo/Sergei Volkov)

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Black Sea Fleet sailor adjusts a former Soviet navy flag atop a fleet submarine, Wednesday, March 20, 1996 at the Sevastopol naval base, the Crimea, Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine so far have failed to divide their shares of the fleet ships, which still carry old Soviet naval flags along with Russian ones. (AP Photo/Sergei Volkov) #

Description of  Some of 100 thousand Tatars, (Turkic ethnic group) who returned to their native land, stare from behind a barbed wire fence in a ìghettoî in Crimea on Sunday, Oct. 30, 1990, which they built with official permission near small village Koreis in Cremea, the slogan reads Motherland or death. (AP Photo/Vladimir Lagrange)

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Some of 100 thousand Tatars, (Turkic ethnic group) who returned to their native land, stare from behind a barbed wire fence in a ìghettoî in Crimea on Sunday, Oct. 30, 1990, which they built with official permission near small village Koreis in Cremea, the slogan reads Motherland or death. (AP Photo/Vladimir Lagrange) #

Description of  Crimean Tatars wipe their tears at a mourning rally during the 60th anniversary of deportation of ethnic Tatars under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 18, 2004. Thousands of people gathered in Simferopol main square to honor the memory of victims of the Soviet regime (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

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Crimean Tatars wipe their tears at a mourning rally during the 60th anniversary of deportation of ethnic Tatars under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 18, 2004. Thousands of people gathered in Simferopol main square to honor the memory of victims of the Soviet regime (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) #

Description of  SIMFEROPOL, UKRAINE - MAY 18:   A woman carries a flag during a demonstration for the Crimean Tartars May 18, 2003 in Simferopol, Ukraine. The demonstration marked the 59th anniversary of a mass deportation by Stalin's regime during World War II of the Crimean Tarters, the name given to Turkic people living in the Crimean Peninsula in what is now the Ukraine. Approximately 15,000 participants took part in this demonstration.  (Photo by Sergei Svetlitsky/Getty Images)

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SIMFEROPOL, UKRAINE - MAY 18: A woman carries a flag during a demonstration for the Crimean Tartars May 18, 2003 in Simferopol, Ukraine. The demonstration marked the 59th anniversary of a mass deportation by Stalin's regime during World War II of the Crimean Tarters, the name given to Turkic people living in the Crimean Peninsula in what is now the Ukraine. Approximately 15,000 participants took part in this demonstration. (Photo by Sergei Svetlitsky/Getty Images) #

Description of  CRIMEA, UKRAINE - AUGUST 18:  Sunbathers lay out on the rugged beach of Yalta August 18, 2003 in Crimea, Ukraine. After the number of annual visitors to the Black Sea peninsula dropped from 8 million in the late Soviet era to just 3 million in the mid 1990's, about 4.5 million vacationers traveled to Crimea in 2002.  (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

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CRIMEA, UKRAINE - AUGUST 18: Sunbathers lay out on the rugged beach of Yalta August 18, 2003 in Crimea, Ukraine. After the number of annual visitors to the Black Sea peninsula dropped from 8 million in the late Soviet era to just 3 million in the mid 1990's, about 4.5 million vacationers traveled to Crimea in 2002. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images) #

Description of  SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE - AUGUST 15:  Russian sailors tend to a "Varshavyanka" submarine August 15, 2003 in Sevastopol, Crimea in the Ukraine. Sevastopol is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia and the Ukraine have an agreement keeping the base in Sevastopol through 2017.  (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

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SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE - AUGUST 15: Russian sailors tend to a "Varshavyanka" submarine August 15, 2003 in Sevastopol, Crimea in the Ukraine. Sevastopol is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia and the Ukraine have an agreement keeping the base in Sevastopol through 2017. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images) #

Description of  SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE - AUGUST 15:  Russian sailors linger on a street August 15, 2003 in Sevastopol, Crimea in the Ukraine. Sevastopol is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia and the Ukraine have an agreement keeping the base in Sevastopol through 2017.  (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

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SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE - AUGUST 15: Russian sailors linger on a street August 15, 2003 in Sevastopol, Crimea in the Ukraine. Sevastopol is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia and the Ukraine have an agreement keeping the base in Sevastopol through 2017. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

A uniformed man, wearing no insignia or identifying marks, but believed to be a Russian serviceman, stands on guard outside a Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye outside Simferopol, on March 5, 2014. Ukraine's foreign minister said his country feels like it's almost in a state of war after Russian forces took effective control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

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Russian military armored personnel carriers drive on the road from Sevastopol to Simferopol, on March 4, 2014.(Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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A Russian military helicopter flies near Simferopol, Ukraine, on March 3, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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Soldiers, believed to be Russian, ride on military armored personnel carriers on a road near the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, on March 10, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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A man in military fatigues sits atop an armored personnel carrier on the road from Sevastopol to Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, on March 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) #

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Armed servicemen wait near Russian military vehicles outside a Ukrainian border guard post in the Crimean town of Balaclava, on March 1, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer) #

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Uniformed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, march outside a Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye outside Simferopol, on March 5, 2014. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko) #

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Ukrainian servicemen walk on the roof of their base as uniformed men believed to be Russian soldiers (not pictured) stand guard at a Ukrainian military base near Sevastopol, on March 8, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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Heavily-armed troops displaying no identifying insignia and who were mingling with local pro-Russian militants stand guard outside a local government building on March 3, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. Police removed roadblocks in the city center and access to the Crimean Parliament building opened again in signs that daily life is returning to a form of normalcy and that pro-Russian forces have cemented their control of the Crimean capital. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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Attack helicopters, believed to be Russian, fly over a Russian military base in Sevastopol, March 7, 2014. President Vladimir Putin rebuffed a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea, saying on Friday that Russia could not ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine. The words on the wall read "Glory to Russian Navy".(Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili) #

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Armed men, believed to be Russian soldiers, carry a heavy machine gun outside a Ukrainian military base in Yevpatoria, on March 9, 2014. (Reuters/Thomas Peter) #

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Russian forces look out at the Ukrainian navy ship Slavutich in the harbor of Sevastopol, on March 5, 2014.(Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Ukrainian military officer points to a bullet hole in a door of an anti-aircraft missile launcher control position at a Ukrainian military unit, which was taken under Russian control on March 5, 2014, in Sevastopol. (AP Photo/Andrew Lubimov) #

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An abandoned naval ship sunk by the Russian navy to block the entrance in the Crimean port of Yevpatorya, on March 8, 2014.(Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili) #

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A Ukrainian sailor warms himself as he stands watch looking for Russian soldiers who may attempt to take over his vessel Ternopil, in Sevastopol, on March 4, 2014. The blankets and mattresses are placed over the side of the ship to hinder any attempted assault.(AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) #

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An armed man, believed to be a Russian soldier, stands guard outside a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe, on March 5, 2014.(Reuters/Thomas Peter) #

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Troops apparently under Russian command assemble before getting into trucks near the Ukrainian military base they are blockading on March 5, 2014 in Perevalne, Ukraine. Meanwhile armed paramilitary troops, including Cossacks armed with Klashnikov rifles and armored personnel carriers, have dug in at the northern end of Crimea around Armyansk in what seems to be an effort to define the new border between Crimea and Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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Uniformed men believed to be Russian servicemen walk around a Ukrainian military base near Sevastopol, on March 8, 2014.(Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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Local residents walk by Russian forces (right) blocking access to the base of the 36th detached brigade of the Ukrainian Navy's coast guard, as Ukrainian soldiers stand guard behind the entrance gate (left), not far from the village of Perevalne, near Simferopol, on March 5, 2014. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Ukrainian soldier inside the Belbek military base gets an affectionate pat from a woman who was among approximately two dozen who spent the night outside the gate in support of the men in Lubimovka, Ukraine, on March 4, 2014. Tensions at the base, where between 300 and 400 Ukrainian soldiers are stationed, were high as a 4pm deadline the day before reportedly given by Russian troops for the Ukrainians to surrender passed and the troops feared the Russians might attack the base overnight. Many of the soldiers have family that live in apartment blocks just outside the base and about two dozen family members braved the cold ready to block the road to the base entrance should the Russians appear. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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Ukrainian soldiers stand behind a gate while an unidentified armed man blocks the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol, on March 3, 2014. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Local women watch armed men, believed to be Russian soldiers, assemble near a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe, on March 5, 2014. (Reuters/Thomas Peter) #

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A truck and soldiers block the road leading to Babek Airport near Sevastopol, apparently occupied by Russian troops in Crimea, on March 2, 2014 near Balbek, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(1 of 7) A Russian soldier lies with his back to Ukrainian fighter jets as he watches Ukrainian serviceman at the Belbek airport in the Crimea region, on March 4, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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(2 of 7) Colonel Yuli Mamchor, commander of the Ukrainian military garrison at Belbek airbase, salutes before leading over 100 of his unarmed troops to retake Belbek airfield from soldiers under Russian command in Crimea, on March 4, 2014 in Lubimovka, Ukraine. After spending a tense night anticipating a Russian attack following the expiration of a Russian deadline to surrender, in which family members of troops spent the night at the garrison gate in support of the soldiers, Mamchor announced his bold plan to his soldiers early this morning. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(3 of 7) Unarmed Ukrainian troops bearing their regiment and the Ukrainian flags march to confront soldiers under Russian command occupying Belbek airbase, on March 4, 2014. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(4 of 7) A soldier under Russian command aims a rocket propelled grenade launcher at a group of over 100 unarmed Ukrainian troops who marched to Belbek airbase, which the Russian troops are occcupying, on March 4, 2014.(Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(5 of 7) Troops under Russian command fire weapons into the air and scream orders to turn back at an approaching group of over 100 unarmed Ukrainian troops at Belbek airbase, on March 4, 2014. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(6 of 7) A soldier under Russian command restrains another after he fired his weapon into the air and screamed orders at an approaching group of over 100 unarmed Ukrainian troops at Belbek airbase, on March 4, 2014. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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(7 of 7) Colonel Yuli Mamchor (right), commander of the Ukrainian military garrison at Belbek airbase, speaks to troops under Russian command occupying the airbase, on March 4, 2014 in Lubimovka, Ukraine. The Russian-lead troops granted Mamchor access to begin negotiations with their commander. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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People walk past a poster in Sevastopol on March 11, 2014 reading "On March 16 we will choose either... or...", depicting Crimea in red with a swastika and covered in barbed wire, and Crimea with the colors of the Russian flag. Pro-Moscow lawmakers in Crimea voted for independence from Ukraine on March 11 in a precursor to a referendum this weekend for the region to become part of Russia. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Military armored personnel carriers, believed to be Russian, drive on a road near the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, on March 10, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner) #

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A tractor digs a series of holes next to a checkpoint in Chongar, northern Ukraine, on March 7, 2014. Spreading out from the road by the checkpoint there is a perfect row of holes dug into the earth, each about half-a-meter wide, in what looked like the first steps of installing a border fence. Signs nearby warned of mines and were marked "Stop! Danger to Life!" with a skull-and-crossbones. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand at the entrance of a military unit in Simferopol, on March 10, 2014. These forces consolidated their hold on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula on Monday, taking over a military hospital and a missile base as officials geared up for a referendum on the region's future. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko) #

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Pro-Ukrainian sympathizers hand gifts of cigarettes, chocolate and flowers to a Ukrainian soldier standing inside a blockaded Ukrainian military base on March 8, 2014 in Simferopol. Several hundred pro-Ukrainian protesters marched peacefully through the city center to a Ukrainian military base that has been blockaded by pro-Russian militants and soldiers.(Sean Gallup/Getty Images) #

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Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, march outside a Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye, on March 10, 2014. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili) #

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An armed man (right), believed to be a Russian serviceman, stands near members of a pro-Russian self defense unit before they take an oath to the Crimean government in Simferopol, on March 10, 2014. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko) #

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Ukrainian officers stand behind the gates of a military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, on March 11, 2014. A pro-Russian force opened fire in seizing a Ukrainian military base in Crimea on Monday and NATO announced reconnaissance flights along its eastern frontiers. Diplomats and heads of state are still seeking to defuse the potentially volatile crisis that has developed since pro-Russian forces seized power in Crimea and are seeking to join the peninsula with Russia. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

 

 

 

 

  • Pro-Russian forces also took control of three Ukrainian navy ships today
  • Ukraine's ambassador to the U.N has expressed fears Russia may be planning a further military incursion into Ukraine's territory
  • 'Russia is on its way to unleash a full blown military intervention' - he said
  • Russian defence officials denied this in telephone call with Pentagon
  • EU leaders met in Brussels today to discuss their response to crisis
  • Placed travel bans and asset freezes on 12 more people with total now 33
  • 'Some of them are really high-ranking' - EU President Herman Van Rompuy
  • Russia imposed entry bans on U.S. lawmakers and officials in retaliation

Ukraine has started to withdraw its troops from Crimea to the mainland amid fears Russia plans further military incursions into their territory after militiamen seized three Ukrainian ships today.

Russian troops have majority control of the Black Sea peninsula after storming three Ukrainian warships following the takeover of several military bases.

Shots were fired and stun grenades as the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky was seized in Sevastopol while another ship, the Lutsk, was also surrounded by pro-Russian forces.

Ukrainian servicemen were also seen disembarking a third ship, the Ternopil corvette. There were not thought to be any casualties, however.

The action came hours before European Union leaders agreed to widen the list of Russian officials subject to personal sanctions over the seizure of Crimea - while asking the European Commission to prepare for broader economic sanctions if the crisis escalates.

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Takeover: A man in an unmarked uniform and wearing a mask holds a gun as he climbs aboard the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol, Crimea

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Takeover: A man in an unmarked uniform and wearing a mask holds a gun as he climbs aboard the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol, Crimea

Raid: Pro-Russian militiamen seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in Crimea on Thursday - including the corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol

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Raid: Pro-Russian militiamen seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in Crimea on Thursday - including the corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol

Surrender: Ukrainian crew members pictured lying on the deck of the Khmelnitsky after it was seized in Sevastopol by pro-Russian troops

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Surrender: Ukrainian crew members pictured lying on the deck of the Khmelnitsky after it was seized in Sevastopol by pro-Russian troops

Men in unmarked uniforms stand guard during seizure of the corvette Khmelnitsky

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Men in unmarked uniforms stand guard during seizure of the corvette Khmelnitsky

A crew member of  the Khmelnitsky leaves the ship with a collection of his belongings

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A crew member of the Khmelnitsky leaves the ship with a collection of his belongings

Earlier today, the U.S. expanded economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals. President Obama also warned of more costs to come is the situation worsens.

Ukraine said its troops are being threatened on the ground in Crimea today as naval headquarters in Sevastopol were taken over as was another naval facility 30kms away in Bakhchisaray.

Extraordinary scenes followed as downcast Ukrainian servicemen, unarmed and in civilian clothing, began abandoning the bases, some with 'nowhere to go' while others were reported to have already defected to Russian forces.

Masked men holding guns climb aboard the Khmelnitsky while two other warships were also seized

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Masked men holding guns climb aboard the Khmelnitsky while two other warships were also seized

A man in an unmarked uniform stands guard during the seizure of the warship

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A man in an unmarked uniform stands guard during the seizure of the warship

Pro-Russian forces hang up a Russian flag after seizing ship in the peninsular

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Pro-Russian forces hang up a Russian flag after seizing ship in the peninsular

Ukrainian crew of  Pridniprovya, right, leaves the ship after it was taken by pro-Russian forces

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Ukrainian crew of Pridniprovya, right, leaves the ship after it was taken by pro-Russian forces

Out of Ukraine's 25,000 troops in Crimea, it is estimated there are still thousands who remain trapped in the region as Russian troops close in around them.

'We are working out a plan of action so that we can transfer not just servicemen, but first of all, members of their family who are in Crimea, quickly and effectively to mainland Ukraine,' said Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council.

Terms and conditions of the withdrawal have yet to be agreed but Ukrainian border guards in Crimea, under the control of Russia's military, have started redeploying to regions on the mainland.

'We have started the gradual redeployment of our servicemen to the territory of Kherson and Mikolayiv regions,' Pavlo Shysholin, deputy head of the state border guard service, told a news conference.

Packing up: A Ukrainian air force officer carries his bags out of the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday as Kiev announced plans to withdraw 25,000 troops from the peninsula

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Packing up: A Ukrainian air force officer carries his bags out of the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday as Kiev announced plans to withdraw 25,000 troops from the peninsula

Evacuation: Ukrainian air force officers are pictured removing their belongings the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, on Thursday as many troops have reportedly defected to Russian forces

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Evacuation: Ukrainian air force officers are pictured removing their belongings the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, on Thursday as many troops have reportedly defected to Russian forces

Time to go: Ukrainian air force officers leave the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, with their belongings on Thursday as pro-Russian troops close in on the peninsula

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Time to go: Ukrainian air force officers leave the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, with their belongings on Thursday as pro-Russian troops close in on the peninsula

Shut out: A soldier closes the gate at the Belbek airbase in Crimea on Thursday as thousands of Ukrainian troops and sailors remain trapped in the region

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Shut out: A soldier closes the gate at the Belbek airbase in Crimea on Thursday as thousands of Ukrainian troops and sailors remain trapped in the region

PICTURED: THE FIRST SOLDIER KILLED IN THE CRIMEA CRISIS

Victim: Ukrainian Warrant Officer Kokurin Serhiy, 37, became the first fatal casualty of the Crimea crisis when he was shot on Monday

Victim: Ukrainian Warrant Officer Kokurin Serhiy, 37, became the first fatal casualty of the Crimea crisis when he was shot on Monday

Warrant Officer Kokurin Serhiy, 37, became the first fatal casualty of the Crimea crisis when he was shot dead on Tuesday.

The chief of logistics, who was born in Simferopol, was at his post in a watchtower at a military base in Simferopol, Crimea, when he was shot through the heart and in the head.

The Ukraine Ministry of Defence claimed he was fired upon by a militiamen who were wearing military uniform of Russian servicemen but without any insignia.

His death prompted the Ukraine Ministry Of Defence to allow troops the use of arms to defend themselves.

Officer Kukurin's fellow soldiers today paid tribute to the 'realiable friend' who leaves behind a four-year-old son and seven-month pregnant wife.

A statement read: 'He was modest and handsome, a hard-working and skillful specialist, and reliable friend.

'Kokurin Serhiy was many times awarded distinctions by the Minister of Defense, Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine.

'He was a strong support for his mother, good brother, kind husband, attentive father for his son. His wife is waiting for birth of baby in two months.

'The personnel of the 13th Photogrammetric Center of Central Directorate of Operations Support of Armed Forces mourns for decease of their friend Serhiy Kokurin.'

Shysholin also said about 1,000 civilians had so far left the peninsula.

Meanwhile Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yurii Klymenko, has also expressed concerns that Russia may be intending a further military incursion into Ukraine territory.

He said: 'There are indications that Russia is on its way to unleash a full blown military intervention in Ukraine's east and south'.

His statement was widely supported by other ambassadors, but challenged by a Russian diplomat, who read a prepared statement justifying Russia's actions so far.

More...

Russia's defense minister assured US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by telephone that Russian forces along Ukraine's eastern border have no intention of crossing into Ukrainian territory.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said that in an hour-long conversation Thursday, Hagel asked for an explanation of Russian intentions for the thousands of troops positioned near the Ukrainian border.

Kirby said Hagel was told that the troops are there for just one purpose: to conduct training exercises.

Russia says they have no plans to cross into Ukraine

Another base taken over: A Ukrainian serviceman leaves a military unit in Bakhchisarai, outside Simferopol, on Thursday after it was seized by Russian troops on Wednesday night

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Another base taken over: A Ukrainian serviceman leaves a military unit in Bakhchisarai, outside Simferopol, on Thursday after it was seized by Russian troops on Wednesday night

Peaceful: Ukrainian servicemen smile as they peacefully carry their belongings out of a Ukrainian military unit taken over by Russian soldiers in Bakhchisarai

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Peaceful: Ukrainian servicemen smile as they peacefully carry their belongings out of a Ukrainian military unit taken over by Russian soldiers in Bakhchisarai

Concerns: A Russian soldier patrols the entrance to the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, amid fears Russia may push further into Ukraine territory

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Concerns: A Russian soldier patrols the entrance to the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, amid fears Russia may push further into Ukraine territory

Civil: Russian and Ukranian soldiers talk at the gate of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday

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Civil: Russian and Ukranian soldiers talk at the gate of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday

This morning, Ukrainian troops at Belbek airbase in the wine-growing country near Crimea's southwestern coast were leaving with large bags containing their belongings.

They weren't evacuating, they said, just transferring their things to a safe place as they were worried that pro-Russian mobs might loot the facility, which they heard happened the day before in nearby Sevastopol.

Since the Russian forces took charge in Crimea, Ukrainian-enlisted personnel and officers have been bottled up in barracks and other buildings at one end of the Belbek base, with the Russians in control of the airfield.

'We're waiting for what Kiev, our leadership, tells us,' said one major, who declined to give his name.

The major said he expected about half of the personnel still at the base to accept the Russian offer to stay and join the Russian armed forces since they are Crimea natives.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was 'deeply concerned' by the situation involving Ukraine and Russia.

Ban is on a visit to both nations to encourage all parties involved in the crisis over Ukraine and its Crimea region, which Western nations say Russia has illegally annexed, to find a peaceful solution.

Ukraine's parliament calls on countries not to recognize Crimea

Talks: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday

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Talks: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday

Concerned: Ban Ki-moon told Putin on Thursday he is 'deeply concerned' by the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine

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Concerned: Ban Ki-moon told Putin on Thursday he is 'deeply concerned' by the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine

EU leaders met in Brussels today to discuss how to deal with the developments in Crimea.

Travel bans and asset freezes were placed on 12 more people, closing in on President Vladimir Putin's inner circle to punish him in the escalating crisis over the Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

The move brought the number of Russians and Ukrainians facing EU sanctions to 33, and French President Francois Hollande said it included a lot of crossover with the people the United States is targeting with similar measures.

'We added 12 people, in concert with the Americans,' Hollande said.

The 28-nation bloc said the names of the sanctioned would be published Friday. 'Some of them are really high-ranking,' said EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

Germany's Angela Merkel said the EU was ready to support Ukraine's new government financially, provided it reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund, which she said talks had made substantial progress and a deal was expected soon.

RUSSIA IN RETALIATION

Russia slapped a travel ban Thursday on nine U.S. lawmakers and officials - the first retaliation against the United States for its sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea. They were:
- Caroline Atkinson, a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.
- Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama.
- Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.
- John Boehner, a Republican congressman from Ohio.
- Harry Reid, a Democratic senator from Nevada.
- John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona.
- Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey.
- Dan Coats, a Republican senator from Indiana.

She told a news conference after the first day of the summit the EU was prepared to send an observer mission to Ukraine but would prefer the pan-European security watchdog OSCE to send monitors if Russia will agree on a mandate.

Merkel declined to say how many names would be added to the EU blacklist of people subject to visa bans and asset freezes on Friday but said they were of the same level as the 21 mid-ranking Russian and Crimean officials sanctioned last week.

Ahead of the EU leaders' meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union will impose more sanctions on Russia and that the G8 forum has been suspended indefinitely.

The United States and its G7 allies will gather next week in The Hague without Russia to consider a further response to the Kremlin's moves in Crimea.

But President Barack Obama HAS already stepped up pressure on Russia by announcing further sanctions on Russia on Thursday.

The U.S. expanded economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals.

The new American sanctions hit close advisers to Putin. They include Sergei Ivanov, the Russian president's chief of staff and a longtime associate.

Also targeted were Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both lifelong Putin friends whose companies have amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.

Timchenko sold his near 50 percent stake in the vast oil trading empire he co-founded, Gunvor, in order to keep it running.

The Swiss-based trading firm announced that Timchenko had sold his stake in the firm to Chief Executive Officer Torbjorn Tornqvist earlier this week in order to 'ensure with certainty the continued and uninterrupted operations' of the company.

Finally, Bank Rossiya, a private bank that is owned by Yuri Kovalchuk, who is considered to be Putin's banker was also sanctioned.

Obama, warning of more costs to come for the Kremlin if the situation worsens, said he also signed an executive order that would allow the U.S. to penalize key sectors of the Russian economy.

Announcement: President Barack Obama reveals additional sanctions against Russia on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Thursday

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Announcement: President Barack Obama reveals additional sanctions against Russia on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Thursday

President Barack Obama announced a new round of economic sanctions on individuals in Russia, both inside and outside the government, in retaliation for the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine

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President Barack Obama announced a new round of economic sanctions on individuals in Russia, both inside and outside the government, in retaliation for the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine

Officials said Obama could act on that authority if Russian forces press into other areas of Ukraine, an escalation of the crisis in Crimea.

The president said the latest penalties were the result of 'choices the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community'.

'Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,' Obama said, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House.

Yuri Kovalchuk is thought to be Putin's banker who was also sanctioned by the US today

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Yuri Kovalchuk is thought to be Putin's banker who was also sanctioned by the US today

Surrounded: Russian naval vessels block the Ukrainian ship Slavutich (pictured left) at her mooring in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday

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Surrounded: Russian naval vessels block the Ukrainian ship Slavutich (pictured left) at her mooring in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday

A boat transporting the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Aleksandr Vitko moors up alongside Slavutich, the command ship of the Ukrainian Navy

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A boat transporting the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Aleksandr Vitko moors up alongside Slavutich, the command ship of the Ukrainian Navy

Shaking hands: Russian officers meet Ukrainian colleagues on the ship Slavutich in Sevastopol

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Shaking hands: Russian officers meet Ukrainian colleagues on the ship Slavutich in Sevastopol

Going nowhere: The Ukrainian ship Slavutich was left trapped at her mooring in Sevastopol after being cut off by Russian vessels

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Going nowhere: The Ukrainian ship Slavutich was left trapped at her mooring in Sevastopol after being cut off by Russian vessels

Russia then announced retaliatory sanctions on nine U.S. officials and lawmakers on Thursday, warning the West it would hit back over 'every hostile thrust'.

Deputy national security advisers Ben Rhodes and Caroline Atkinson and senators John McCain, Harry Reid and Mary Landrieu, Dan Coats and Robert Menendez were among the Americans barred from Russia, the Foreign Ministry said.

The others were House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

'We have repeatedly warned that sanctions are a double-edged instrument and would hit the United States like a boomerang,' the Russian Foreign Ministry said. 'There must be no doubt: We will respond adequately to every hostile thrust.'

It comes after Obama ruled out U.S. military involvement in Ukraine on Wednesday night - emphasizing the need for diplomacy in the U.S. standoff with Russia over Crimea.

'We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,' Obama told KNSD, San Diego's NBC affiliate, in an interview.

'We do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia,' he told KSDK, a St. Louis station owned by Gannett in a separate interview.

Obama, who imposed sanctions on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, said the United States will push diplomatic efforts to bring pressure on Russia to loosen its grip on the Crimea region of southern Ukraine.

'There is a better path, but I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge that for us to engage Russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for Ukraine either,' Obama told KNSD.

His comments coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden reassuring Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that America will defend any NATO member against aggression.

Trapped: The Ukrainian ship Ternopil  is seen in the harbour in Sevastopol as a Russian ship blocks its exit

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Trapped: The Ukrainian ship Ternopil is seen in the harbour in Sevastopol as a Russian ship blocks its exit

Supplies: A Ukranian sailor carries bread on board the Ternopil ship still moored in the dock at Sevastopol which is now under Russian control

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Supplies: A Ukranian sailor carries bread on board the Ternopil ship still moored in the dock at Sevastopol which is now under Russian control

Ukrainian sailors pictured collecting bread for their ship the Ternopil in Sevastopol. It comes as the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this week

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Ukrainian sailors pictured collecting bread for their ship the Ternopil in Sevastopol. It comes as the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this week

John Kerry meets with Slovak Foreign Minister on Ukraine

The three countries - which like Ukraine were all parts of the old Soviet Union - have expressed growing apprehension over Moscow's intentions.

Poland has decided to speed up its tender for a missile defence system, a defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday, in a sign of Warsaw's disquiet over the tension between neighbouring Ukraine and Russia.

Russia signaled concern on Wednesday at Estonia's treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, comparing language policy in the Baltic state with what it said was a call in Ukraine to prevent the use of Russian.

Russia has defended its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula by arguing it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders, so the reference to linguistic tensions in another former Soviet republic comes at a highly sensitive moment.

But Vice President Biden assured the Baltic republics: 'We're in this with you, together.'

The three countries were overrun by Stalin during the Second World War and only won their freedom with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Biden added: 'Russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behaviour.'

Heavyweight boxing champion Vladimir Klitschko urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday not to 'repeat the mistakes of history' in his confrontation with Ukraine, the boxer's homeland.

Klitschko is the younger brother of Vitaly Klitschko, a member of parliament in Ukraine and a leader of the opposition that helped topple Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich last month.

'You cannot repeat the mistakes of history and there were a lot of mistakes,' the 37-year-old boxing champ told reporters in his training camp in Hollywood, Florida, where the side of a ring was draped with a Ukrainian flag.

'Every country, every former Soviet republic has its own desire and will to look in the direction they want to look - east, west, south, north. It's their own decision,' he said.

Out in force: Russian soldiers patrol the area surrounding the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday

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Out in force: Russian soldiers patrol the area surrounding the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday

A civilian drives past Russian soldiers patrolling Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, near a Ukrainian military base. Russian forces now control much of the region

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A civilian drives past Russian soldiers patrolling Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, near a Ukrainian military base. Russian forces now control much of the region

Villagers show their support for Ukrainian troops

It comes after masked Russian-speaking troops forced their way onto Ukraine's main naval base in Sevastopol yesterday morning, detaining the head of Ukraine's navy and seizing the facility.

The incursion, which Ukraine's defence ministry described as being led by a self-described local defence force, Cossacks and 'aggressive women', proceeded with no resistance.

Upon gaining entrance to the base, the storming party raised a Russian flag on the headquarters square.

The unarmed militiamen waited for an hour on the square and, following the arrival of the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, they took over the building with the support of armed Russian-speaking troops.

By afternoon, they were in full control of the naval headquarters, a set of three-storey white concrete buildings with blue trim.

There was nothing we could do against the crowd,’ said one Ukrainian officer. ‘Everything happened spontaneously.’ Another officer said they had ‘no orders and no weapons.’

The Ukrainian defence ministry said Rear Admiral Sergei Haiduk was detained, and a news agency close to the Russian-backed local authorities reported that he had been summoned for questioning by prosecutors.

Response: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced the EU will impose further sanctions on Russia

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Response: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced the EU will impose further sanctions on Russia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses lawmakers at the lower house of parliament in Bundestag, Berlin, on Thursday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses lawmakers at the lower house of parliament in Bundestag, Berlin, on Thursday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels

Later in the day, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the Crimean authorities to release him. He was let go this morning.

Russian troops also seized another Ukrainian naval facility in Crimea late on Wednesday in Bakhchisaray, about 30 km (20 miles) southwest of the regional capital, Simferopol.

With thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and sailors trapped on military bases, surrounded by heavily armed Russian forces and pro-Russia militia, the Kiev government said it was drawing up plans to evacuate its outnumbered troops from Crimea.

Just how many retreating troops Ukraine will have to absorb in what amounts to a military surrender of Crimea was unclear.

David Cameron speaks at the EU Summit - where Ukraine will not doubt be high on the agenda

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David Cameron speaks at the EU Summit - where Ukraine will not doubt be high on the agenda

World leaders, including David Cameron and Angela Merkel speak during an EU summit

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World leaders, including David Cameron and Angela Merkel speak during an EU summit

Cameron talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of the summit

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Cameron talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of the summit

Many servicemen have already switched sides to Russia, but authorities said they were prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 soldiers and their families to the Ukrainian mainland.

Humbled but defiant, Ukraine last night lashed out symbolically at Russia by declaring its intent to leave the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 11 former Soviet nations.

But Ukraine has been largely powerless to prevent Russian troops from taking control of Crimea, which President Vladimir Putin formally annexed on Tuesday with the stroke of a pen.

Crimea's absorption came after a hastily organised referendum in which the population overwhelmingly, albeit under conditions akin to martial law, voted in favour of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.

'We do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia': President Barack Obama has ruled out military involvement in Ukraine instead calling for diplomacy

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'We do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia': President Barack Obama has ruled out military involvement in Ukraine instead calling for diplomacy

'We're in this with you': U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed America will defend any NATO member from aggression as ex-Soviet states expressed concerns over the developments in Crimea

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'We're in this with you': U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed America will defend any NATO member from aggression as ex-Soviet states expressed concerns over the developments in Crimea

Talks: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite (centre) and Latvia's President Andris Berzins (left) on Wednesday

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Talks: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite (centre) and Latvia's President Andris Berzins (left) on Wednesday

Russia's Constitutional Court chairman, Valery Zorkin, said yesterday the treaty signed by Mr Putin has been ruled valid.

Ukraine now plans to seek U.N. support to turn the peninsula into a demilitarised zone.

Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council, also announced Ukraine would hold military manoeuvres with the US and Britain, signatories, along with Russia, of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. He provided no details.

The document was designed to guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity when it surrendered its share of Soviet nuclear arsenals to Russia after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

Ukraine has accused Russia of breaching the agreement by taking over the Crimean Peninsula.

In Washington, the Pentagon said it would participate as planned in a multinational military exercise this summer in Ukraine.

Dubbed 'Rapid Trident,' the ground manoeuvres have been held annually for a number of years with forces from Britain and other Nato countries as well as Ukraine, which has a partner relationship with Nato but is not a member.

The Pentagon gave no details on the number of U.S. forces expected to participate or when the exercises would be held. Last year, the two-week manoeuvres involving 17 nations were held in July.

Sending a message: Russian flags fly at the top of a chimney near the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in Sevastopol on Wednesday

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Sending a message: Russian flags fly at the top of a chimney near the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in Sevastopol on Wednesday

Waving goodbye: Ukrainian servicemen leave a Ukrainian military unit after it was taken over by Russian forces in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

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Waving goodbye: Ukrainian servicemen leave a Ukrainian military unit after it was taken over by Russian forces in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

Going home: Ukrainian soldiers left the base with their belongings after being forced out of the building on Wednesday

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Going home: Ukrainian soldiers left the base with their belongings after being forced out of the building on Wednesday

A Ukrainian officer leaves as Russian soldiers take over the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

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A Ukrainian officer leaves as Russian soldiers take over the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this morning said the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this week.

'Practical steps are being taken to implement the agreements on the entry of Crimea and (the Crimean port city of) Sevastopol into Russia,' Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. 'The legal process will be completed this week.'

Russia's lower house of parliament ratified the treaty on Thursday to make Crimea and Sevastopol regions of Russia. Only one deputy in the State Duma voted against the treaty.

The upper house is also expected to accept the treaty on Friday.

'From now on, and forever, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol will be in the Russian Federation,' pro-Kremlin lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said in an address before the vote.

It comes as European Union leaders are likely to extend asset freezes and travel bans on key members of the Russian regime, as they meet in Brussels today to discuss tougher sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea.

In a two-day summit, the EU is also expected to reaffirm its support for the new administration in Kiev by signing political elements of an association agreement with Ukraine.

Boxing Champion Klitschko gives Putin warning

Flying the flag: A soldier holds up a Russian flag on the roof of Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimean, on Wednesday morning after the base was stormed by pro-Russian forces

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Flying the flag: A soldier holds up a Russian flag on the roof of Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimean, on Wednesday morning after the base was stormed by pro-Russian forces

Taking control: Pro-Russian self-defence force members break through an entrance to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

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Taking control: Pro-Russian self-defence force members break through an entrance to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday

Being cut out: A member of the Pro-Russian self-defence force reaches for a knife as he takes down a Ukrainian Navy flag at the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol

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Being cut out: A member of the Pro-Russian self-defence force reaches for a knife as he takes down a Ukrainian Navy flag at the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol

Transformation: Ukrainian Navy flags and insignia are removed from inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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Transformation: Ukrainian Navy flags and insignia are removed from inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters

Ejected: Ukrainian soldiers fold a Ukrainian flag removed by the Crimean pro-Russian self-defence force after they were forced to leave Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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Ejected: Ukrainian soldiers fold a Ukrainian flag removed by the Crimean pro-Russian self-defence force after they were forced to leave Ukrainian Navy headquarters

 

       
   

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