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Pro-Russian forces storm Ukrainian base
Published: 6:59AM Sunday March 23, 2014 Source: AP
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Two men hoist a Russian flag after storming the base in Novofedorivka. - Source: AP
Pro-Russian forces have stormed another Ukrainian base in Crimea, firing shots and stun grenades and smashing through concrete walls with armoured personnel carriers. At least one person was wounded, the air force base commander said.
Col. Yuliy Mamchur, the Ukrainian commander of the Belbek base, near the port city of Sevastopol, called his men together, they sang the Ukrainian national anthem and then stood at ease. He then told his men to put their weapons in the base's armoury.
The men who stormed the base didn't wear any insignia. A Defence Ministry spokesman, Vladislav Seleznev, said they were part of the local militias that have been formed over the past several weeks, but their machine guns and APCs appeared to indicate a military connection.
Russian forces have been seizing Ukrainian military facilities for several days in the Black Sea peninsula, which voted a week ago to secede and join Russia.
Yesterday a crowd stormed the Novofedorivka base, about 50km west of Simferopol, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said.
Elsewhere, more than 5000 pro-Russia residents of a major city in Ukraine's east demonstrated in favour of holding a referendum on whether to seek to split off and become part of Russia.
The rally in Donetsk came less than a week after the Ukrainian region of Crimea approved secession in a referendum regarded as illegitimate by Western countries. After the referendum, Russia formally annexed Crimea.
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With Crimea now effectively under the control of Russian forces, which surround Ukrainian military bases on the strategic Black Sea peninsula, concern is rising that Ukraine's eastern regions will agitate for a similar move.
Russia has brought large military contingents to areas near the border with eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there is no intention to move into eastern Ukraine, but the prospect of violence between pro- and anti-secession groups in the east could be used as a pretext for sending in troops.
However, Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament and a close Putin ally, said yesterday there is no intention to absorb other regions of Ukraine.
Eastern Ukraine is the heartland of Ukraine's economically vital heavy industry and mining. It's also the support base for Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president who fled to Russia last month after three months of protests in the capital, Kiev, triggered by his decision not to sign an agreement with the European Union.
Russia and Yanukovych supporters contend Yanukovych's ouster was a coup and allege that the authorities who then came to power are nationalists who would oppress the east's large ethnic Russian population
