Ukraine’s military admitted on Monday that pro-Russian troops have surrounded or taken over “practically all” its military facilities in Crimea — a move that Russia’s Foreign Minister defended as a necessary protection for the ethnic Russians on the Black Sea peninsula.
“This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey lavrov said in Geneva, where he was attending UN meetings. There have been no reports, however, of any hostilities toward Russian-speaking in Ukraine during the country’s four months of political upheaval. The Russian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying that Moscow believes Ukraine must honor its Feb. 21 agreement to form a new national unity Government.
In Kiev, Ukraine’s new Prime Minister admitted his country had “no military options on the table” to reverse Russia’s military move into its Crimea region. While Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk appealed for outside help and insisted that Crimea still remained part of his country, European Foreign Ministers held an emergency meeting on a joint response to Russia’s military move that could include economic sanctions.
“Any attempt of Russia to grab Crimea will have no success at all. Give us some time,” Yatsenyuk said at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. But he added that “for today” there were “no military options on the table.” He said his country was “urgently” asking for economic and political support from other countries. New reports of Russian moves came in rapid succession on Monday. In addition to seizing barracks and border posts, troops also controlled a ferry terminal in the Ukrainian city of Kerch, just 20 kilometres (12 miles) across the water from Russia. That intensified fears in Kiev that Moscow will send even more troops into the peninsula via that route.
The soldiers at the terminal refused to identify themselves on Monday, but they spoke Russian and their vehicles had Russian license plates. In the meantime, Russian forces were clearly cementing their control over strategic Crimea, home to 2 million mostly Russian-speaking people and landlord for Russia’s critical Black Sea Fleet.