Crimea crisis deepens as Russia and Ukraine ready forces - live updates
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Follow the day’s developments as Russia, in conjunction with local leaders, extend their control of Crimea while the new government in Kiev prepares to respond and President Obama warns of “costs” to Russia.
Reuters report that Ukraine is unlikely to receive financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund before April according to Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak.
Ukraine, which faces a further $6 billion in foreign debt payments this year, has asked the IMF for financial assistance of at least $15 billion. An IMF team is expected in Kiev next week.
According to various Russian and Ukrainian reports, the crisis is spreading from Crimea to other parts of the Ukraine. There are reports that pro-Russian demonstrators in Donestsk and Kharkiv have attempted to take parliament buildings.
Kiev-based Unian report some more worrying developments.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that about 300 soldiers are trying to capture a Sevastopol naval bases. Ukrainian ships have ordered to sea.
It is not clear if weapons are being fired or if there are any injuries.
Following the statement of Fabius, the German and British foreign ministers have weighed in.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned on Saturday that developments in Ukraine over the past few hours were dangerous and urged Russia to explain its intentions regarding its troops in the Crimea region.
“The situation in Crimea in particular has become considerably more acute. Whoever pours more oil onto the flames now, with words or actions, is consciously aiming for further escalation of the situation. Everything Russia does in Crimea must be in keeping with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and treaties on Russia’s Black Sea fleet. We are holding the Russian government to its public statements on this. And this entails also that Russia provides without delay complete transparency over the movements of its troops in Crimea, as well as its goals and intentions behind these.”
William Hague, the British foreign secretary, has spoken to Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart and urged Russia to respect Ukrainian sovereignty and help de-escalate the situation.
Some images from Ukraine today.
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, has said it is concerned about the reports of troop movements and urged all sides in Crimea to refrain from acts that could increase tension.
In spite of the claims of normality, Kiev’s Unian agency report that armed have taken over the council of trade unions in Simferopol which is close to the government building.
Pravda reports that the speaker of the supreme council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov has said that the situation in Crimea will be normalised and guards will leave the boundaries of the parliament.
Konstantinov said that barricades will be dismantled and he intended to address issues such as the economy, wages and pensions.
Konstantinov said that barricades will be dismantled and he intended to address issues such as the economy, wages and pensions.
In Moscow, Reuters reports that the Duma, has asked President Vladimir Putin to take measures to stabilise the situation in Ukraine’s Crimea.
Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the Duma, said “The Duma Council adopted an appeal to the president of Russia, in which parliamentarians are calling on the president to take measures to stabilise the situation in Crimea and use all available means to protect the people of Crimea from tyranny and violence.”
I have just spoken to Harriet Salem, our correspondent in Simferopol in Crimea, who is currently in a local McDonalds availing herself of the free wi-fi.
I have just travelled from Sevastopol to Simferopol. There was little sign of tension. Mostly people are just going about their business. There were blockades outside of Sevastopol manned by armed civilians with motorbikes parked nearby but there was no problem passing through.
Here’s more from Reuters on Gazprom.
Ukraine may lose a discount to the gas price it now pays to Russia’s state gas company Gazprom due to Kiev’s outstanding gas debt, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters on Saturday.
In December, Russia agreed to reduce gas prices for Kiev by about a third, to $268.50 per 1,000 cubic metres from around $400 which Ukraine had paid since 2009, after ousted President Viktor Yanukovich spurned an EU trade deal in favour of closer ties to Moscow.
Kupriyanov said Ukraine’s outstanding gas debt stood at $1.55 billion for 2013 and gas deliveries so far this year.
“It seems that with such gas payments and fulfilment of its obligations Ukraine may not keep its current gas discount. The gas discount agreement assumed full and timely payment,” he said.
The deal allowed for the price to be revised quarterly between the 5th and 10th day of the first month every quarter.
AFP report that the referendum in Crimea has been brought forward to March 30 by the regional parliament.
The report continues that to say that 15 soldiers arrived at the military base and took over the checkpoint. They are now trying to get access to the command post.
This is what Ukrainian news agency Unian are reporting:
In Yalta Russian military is trying to capture the anti-missile part of the APU - source
There are now reports from Interfax that Russian forces are trying to take a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile base in Crimea.
A spokesman for Gazprom has said that Ukraine could lose its discount for gas supplies because of its outstanding debts, according to Reuters. Oil and gas diplomacy could be a potent weapon for both buyers and sellers.
The Telegraph’s Roland Oliphant has spoken to the mystery troops who say they are members of the Russian 810 brigade, based in Sevastopol.
Reuters snapping a report from Interfax which confirms Russian troops are guarding Crimean buildings.
PRO-RUSSIA PREMIER OF UKRAINE’S CRIMEA REGION SAYS RUSSIAN BLACK SEA FLEET SERVICEMEN ARE GUARDING SOME IMPORTANT BUILDINGS IN CRIMEA - INTERFAX
This is an interesting article in the Washington Post about how Russia‘s ability to use natural gas supplies to Ukraine as a weapon, as it has done in the past, has been reduced by other developments.
But the author does not mention that Russian’s gas reserves are also its vulnerability. More than 60 per cent of Russian government revenues come from oil and gas. If the the EU stopped using Russian gas, it could cause immense problems for Russia. It would also cause big problems in Europe, but these would be of a different magnitude heading into spring as opposed to heading into winter.
Here are the facts that Russia Today thinks are relevant about the Crimea. It does not mention Russian troops taking over parts of Ukrainian sovereign territory beyond that given to it by agreement.
It concludes:
Russia repeatedly confirmed it does not doubt Crimea is a part of Ukraine, even though it understands the emotions of the residents of the region. This week Russian MPs initiated a bill that will allow Russian citizenship within six month if the applicant successfully proves his or her Russian ethnicity. It is prepared especially to save Russian-speaking Ukrainians from possible infringement of their rights.
Updated
Ha’aretz have carried an interview with an ex-Israeli soldier who led one of the militias on the Maidan. He gives his opinions about the existence of anti-semitisim among the Ukrainian protesters.
Flights are avoiding airspace near the Crimea. This tweet was from last night but it looks the same now although there are now few aircarft in Ukrainian airspace at all.Flightradar24.com @flightradar24
AP have filed this report from Donetsk in the east of Ukraine where pro-Russian sympathies are strong about the differences between western and eastern Ukrainians.
For AP the contrast can be explained by looking at the cities of Donetsk and Lviv. “The eastern city of Donetsk can seem like a cliche of post-Soviet grimness, a place of Stalinist-era apartment blocks, tin-roofed shacks and loyalty to Russia. In the west, Lviv has emerged as a center for Ukrainian artists and writers, a huge draw for European tourists and a city desperate for closer ties to the West.”
“I have always felt that we are so different,” said a miner who gave his name only as Nikolai, a thickset 35-year-old who went from high school directly into the mines. People speak Russian across most of Ukraine’s east, and worship in onion-domed Orthodox churches. They were shaped by 70 years of Soviet rule and its celebration of socialist industrialization, and by the Russian empire before that. To them, the government is now being run by outsiders who care little for this side of the country. “If they try to pressure us, our region will revolt.”
“We are simply different people from those living in the East,” said Ludmila Petrova, a university student in Lviv, a hotbed of support for Ukraine’s pro-democracy forces and opposition to Yanukovych. “They don’t know what the West is. We have a different history. Maybe it is better that we separate once and for all.”
“The country is already separated,” said Ivan Reyko, a 30-year-old factory worker from Donetsk who joined a recent demonstration of about 100 people in the city’s main plaza, Lenin Square, where a 30-foot-tall statue of the Soviet hero gazes proudly toward the horizon. “There is no way back to a united Ukraine.”
Here is Russia Today’s report on the alleged kidnap attempt.
Unknown armed men from Kiev have tried to seize the Crimean Interior Ministry overnight, and there were several injuries in that attack, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.“Thanks to the decisive action of self-defense squads, the attempt to seize the building of the Interior Ministry was derailed. This attempt confirms the intention of prominent political circles in Kiev to destabilize the situation on the peninsula,” the statement added.Moscow is very concerned with the latest developments in Crimea and thinks any further escalation would be irresponsible, the ministry added.Crimeans began protesting after the new self-proclaimed government in Kiev introduced a law abolishing the use of other languages in official circumstances in Ukraine. More than half the Crimean population are Russian and use only this language for their communication. The residents have announced they are going to hold a referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region.
Updated
Kiev Post reports that communications between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine have been cut.
The Russian foreign ministry have also accused Kiev of escalating the situation in Crimea by attempting to kidnap the Crimean interior minister.
Reuters are snapping statements from Kiev and Moscow.
UKRAINE’S DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS UKRAINIAN MILITARY ON HIGH ALERT IN CRIMEA REGION
UKRAINIAN DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS RUSSIA HAS RECENTLY BROUGHT 6,000 ADDITIONAL TROOPS INTO UKRAINE
RUSSIA “EXTREMELY CONCERNED” ABOUT DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE’S CRIMEA - RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT
RUSSIA SAYS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CRIMEA CONFIRM “DESIRE OF PROMINENT POLITICAL CIRCLES IN KIEV” TO DESTABILISE SITUATION ON THE PENINUSLA
Summary
Good Morning
- Sergei Aksenov, the prime minister of Crimea has claimed control of all military, police and other security services in the region and appealed to Russia for help.
- Troops, believed to be Russian, although not all are wearing clear insignias, have taken control of airports and other key sites.
- President Obama has warned that if Russia breaches Ukrainian sovereignty there will be “costs”.
- The Ukrainian defence minister has ordered all Ukrainian army units in Crimea to be on high alert.