Ukraine's Crimea bases stormed

Ian Pannell reports from the Belbek base: ''A message to Ukraine and the outside world - a show of brute force''

Russian troops have stormed a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea throwing stun grenades and firing automatic weapons in the air.

Reports say at least one person was injured during the assault on Belbek base, near Sevastopol. The base is now said to be under Russian control.

Earlier, several hundred unarmed protesters seized a Ukrainian naval base at Novofedorivka, western Crimea.

Russia formally annexed the Ukrainian region on Friday.

Russian forces appear to be stepping up their efforts to push all Ukrainian forces out of the region.

In another development, Ukraine's warship Slavutych has been seized.

The command vessel was seized by Crimean "self-defence" units and Russian troops after a two-hour assault in Sevastopol, a Ukrainian defence spokesman said.

Ukrainian soldiers in Belbek were earlier given an ultimatum to leave the base

Pro-Russian activists threw smoke bombs before storming the base in Novofedorivka

Pro-Russian activists have been staging protest rallies in eastern Ukraine

The BBC's Ian Pannell in Belbek says the Ukrainian troops on the peninsula feel beleaguered and abandoned by their commanders.

'All is in smoke'

Mark Lowen reports: ''Pro-Russian protesters entered Novofedorivka with ease''

In Belbek, two armoured vehicles burst through the wall of the base followed by Russian troops firing weapons in the air.

An ambulance was then seen entering the base amid reports that at least one person had been injured.

The Ukrainian soldiers were later gathered at the base main square in front of the heavily armed Russian troops.

The storming followed an ultimatum by the Russians to surrender.

The Belbek base commander earlier told the few dozen troops still there to shoot in the air if they were attacked. He said he had been waiting for days for orders from Kiev but told the BBC that none had been issued.

Ukraine's military chiefs deny this, saying each unit in Crimea has been issued with clear orders on what to do if attacked.

In Novofedorivka, attackers threw smoke bombs at the base.

"All is in smoke. We retreated to the main headquarters," said Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov.

He later said Ukrainian forces had left the base after performing the national anthem.

Pro-Russian militia backed by Russian forces have already seized a number of Ukrainian bases in the southern peninsula.

"All of Crimea is Russia, and the Ukrainian force must leave," one of the pro-Russian activists told the BBC.

Russian troops have taken over control of Crimea following last month's overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The Kremlin said it acted to protect its "compatriots" in Crimea from "fascists" moving in from the mainland Ukraine.

Kiev denies the claim, accusing Moscow of "blatant lies" to justify the land grab.

Ukraine and the West have condemned as "illegal" the 16 March referendum in Crimea, where voters backed a proposal to re-join Russia.

The US and EU have responded with a series of sanctions targeting those individuals - including senior officials - involved in what Washington and Brussels describe as Crimea's "annexation".

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Published on: 8:43 AM

Ukraine 'planning Crimea withdrawal'

Watch key footage as pro-Russians take over Sevastopol navy base

Ukraine is drawing up plans to withdraw its soldiers and their families from Crimea, Kiev's security chief says.

Andriy Parubiy said they wanted to move them "quickly and efficiently" to mainland Ukraine.

Earlier, pro-Russian forces seized two naval bases - including Ukraine navy's HQ - in Crimea. Kiev says its navy chief has been detained.

It comes a day after Crimean leaders signed a treaty with Moscow absorbing the peninsula into Russia.

A referendum in Crimea on Sunday, approving its split from Ukraine, came nearly a month after Kiev's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was replaced by Western-leaning interim authorities.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called the crisis in Crimea "the gravest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War".

There were charged exchanges in a session of the UN Security Council, during which US envoy Samantha Power said her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin "showed more imagination than Tolstoy or Chekhov".

"Russia it seems has re-written its borders but it cannot rewrite the facts," said Ms Power, who was then accused by Mr Churkin of dropping "to the level of the tabloid press".

'Demilitarised zone'

Mr Parubiy, in a news conference, set out more details on Kiev's position in light of the events in Crimea.

He said arrangements were now being set up to introduce visas for Russian nationals travelling to Ukraine.

And he said Kiev was seeking UN support to "proclaim Crimea a demilitarised zone", which would involve the withdrawal of Russian troops and the "relocation of Ukrainian troops to continental Ukraine as well as facilitate evacuation of all the civilian population who are unwilling to remain on the occupied territory".

Ukraine is also leaving the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance, and is preparing for military exercises with the US and the UK, Mr Parubiy added.

With reference to plans to withdraw troops and their families, Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya told the BBC that they would not be forced to leave if they did not want to.

But he said: "The situation is unpredictable and uncontrolled sometimes, so that's why there is a danger also for the civilians".

Meanwhile, a deadline of 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) set by Ukraine's interim President Olexander Turchynov for the release of navy chief Serhiy Hayduk has passed.

Shortly afterwards, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called on the Crimean authorities to release him.

A defence ministry statement said Commander Hayduk had been obliged to carry out orders in accordance with Ukrainian military regulations.

Mr Turchynov earlier said that unless Serhiy Hayduk and "all the other hostages - both military and civilian ones - were released, the authorities would carry out an adequate response... of a technical and technological nature".

It is not clear exactly what he means, but it could involve the electricity or water that Ukraine supplies to Crimea, the BBC's David Stern in Kiev suggests.

Pro-Russian crowds broke into the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol

They removed Ukrainian symbols including this gate

Ukrainian flags have been removed and replaced with Russian ones

Many Ukrainian officers left the base, although some said they would not surrender

Kiev said Mr Hayduk was detained soon after Ukraine's naval headquarters was stormed by some 200 pro-Russian activists, some armed, in Sevastopol - the port city which is also home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

They were filmed going through offices, removing Ukrainian insignia and replacing Ukraine's flag with the Russian tricolour.

There were cheers from the crowd when Russia's Black Sea Fleet commander Aleksandr Vitko arrived and entered the building.

A handful of Ukrainian servicemen have refused to surrender. One told the BBC's Mark Lowen that they had been told to stay overnight to protect the equipment but fully expected to be told by Kiev in the morning to withdraw.

Footage shows the head of Ukraine state TV being beaten until he signs his own resignation letter

Ukraine's navy base in Novo-Ozyorne in west Crimea was also infiltrated after a tractor was used to ram the front gates. Some 50 Ukrainian servicemen were seen filing out of the base.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh and First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema reportedly tried to enter Crimea to defuse tensions but were prevented from doing so.

'Clear warning'

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia's constitutional court approved the treaty absorbing Crimea into the Russian Federation. The treaty now only needs ratifying by parliament which correspondents say it is certain to do.

In an emotionally charged speech on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said Crimea had "always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia".

Meanwhile, shocking footage has emerged of MPs from Ukraine's far-right Svoboda party roughing up Oleksandr Panteleymonov, the acting chief executive of the state broadcaster, over his decision to broadcast the treaty ceremony in the Kremlin.

The crisis in Crimea is expected to dominate a meeting of European Union leaders who meet in Brussels on Thursday.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the EU must send "a very clear warning" to Russia, raising the possibility of further sanctions against Moscow. He also said the G8 group should discuss whether to expel Russia "if further steps are taken".

Moscow said any expansion of sanctions was "unacceptable and will not remain without consequences".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is heading to the region. He will meet Mr Putin in Moscow on Thursday and Ukraine's interim leaders in Kiev on Friday.

Pro-Russian forces effectively took over Crimea - with its predominantly ethnic Russian population - after Mr Yanukovych fled Ukraine on 22 February following protests in which more than 80 people were killed.

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Published on: 3:18 PM

Putin's Orwellian theft of Crimea

A woman leaves a voting booth in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 16. Polls opened Sunday morning in a referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region, in which voters are to voice their wish to either join Russia or become an effectively independent state connected to Ukraine.

Solodkova Natalia, who was not healthy enough to visit a polling station, casts her vote at her home in Bakhchysaray, Ukraine, on March 16.

Pro-Russian Crimeans dance as they celebrate in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on March 16.

A Crimean man holds a Soviet Union flag in Lenin Square in Simferopol, Ukraine, on March 16.

A man holds a ballot after casting a vote in favor of separation from Ukraine in the Crimean referendum in Simferopol, Ukraine, on March 16.

Referendum staff wait to collect the vote of WWII veteran Grinevich Oleksander in Bakhchysaray, Ukraine, on March 16.

People stand in line to vote at a bank office in Simferopol, Ukraine. Results are expected on Monday. The United States has already said it expects the Black Sea peninsula's majority ethnic Russian population to vote in favor of joining Russia.

People sign up to receive their ballots from electoral staff at a polling station in Sevastopol.

A woman casts her ballot in the Crimean referendum in Simferopol.

The newly installed pro-Russian leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, casts his ballot at a polling station. He called on the residents of Crimea to cast their votes "independent of nationalism and disintegration."

Cossacks guard the regional parliament building during the Crimean referendum in Simferopol.

Voters talk to election officials inside a polling station in Simferopol.

People vote inside a polling station in Simferopol. If the vote goes in favor of joining Russia, Crimea's government will declare its independence and ask Moscow to let it join the Russian Federation.

HIDE CAPTION

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Frida Ghitis: Putin's talk of "democracy" is double-speak and unfounded lies
• Ghitis: The 96% vote to join Russia is far from an accurate reflection of the popular will
• Ghitis: Putin's warnings about threats to ethic Russians hint at an expanded invasion
• She says U.S., Europe must unite to convince Putin the costs of invasion are dear

Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." Follow her on Twitter @FridaGhitis.

(CNN) -- The spectacle of Russia swallowing pieces of a neighboring country while claiming to defend its people would make George Orwell grimace with recognition. This weekend's charade, a "referendum" in which we're told more than 96% voted to join Russia, fits perfectly with the Orwellian narrative.

In this twilight zone of make-believe, Russian troops invade after removing the insignias from their uniforms and Putin explains, "You can go to a store and buy a uniform," claiming they are local "self-defense forces." Maybe Crimean shops also sell machine guns and armored personnel carriers. In this world of double-speak and misinformation, Moscow is manipulating the message, intimidating, twisting facts and lying -- the more absurd the propaganda the better.

Frida Ghitis

My personal favorite is the branding of Crimea's independence push as the "Russian Spring." The most famous independence "spring" was the 1968 "Prague Spring," a push to expand freedoms in Czechoslovakia that was crushed by Soviet tanks. On second thought, maybe Ukrainians should embrace irony and call this charade a Russian Spring.

Do not believe those who say the result is fair or an accurate reflection of the popular will.

Sure, the Russian speakers in Crimea are intoxicated with Russian nationalism right now. So are millions in the motherland, who have heard the persistent false claims about grave threats, even warning of genocide against Russia's "brothers" in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine. The more you hear about threats to ethnic Russians, the closer Putin is getting to launching an expanded invasion.

Look for claims of "requests for protection" from Moscow. After all, how can Moscow not help. And ignore the Russian agents sowing unrest. The unrest is the required pretext. Russia will come and "pacify." This tactic was not invented by Putin; it left a fetid track in the history of European empire-building, ethnic cleansing and warfare.

Before the propaganda campaign, a poll reported in The Washington Post found a majority of Crimeans were not exactly yearning to join Russia. More than half said their homeland was Crimea, and 35% said Ukraine. About 12 % of Crimeans are Muslim Tatars who despise Russia. About one-quarter are ethnic Ukrainians. You can bet they feel absolutely no affection for Russia today.

The referendum process was a travesty. Thousands of invading soldiers, no campaigning to hear differing views, no choice on the ballot for the status quo, intimidation of opponents, and a lightning-fast schedule after the local government is overthrown under the watch of armed men in unmarked camouflage fatigues. Democracy? You tell me.

McCain: Russia a 'gas station'

Ukraine protests turn deadly

Ukraine analysis

The referendum was not just a violation of democratic norms and Ukrainian law, it was a clear violation of international law.

A Kremlin statement said Putin told U.S. President Barack Obama that Crimean independence echoes the "Kosovo experience." He may come to regret bringing up the former Yugoslavia, which unraveled in an orgy of ethnic and nationalism-driven bloodshed in the 1990s.

No country annexed Kosovo, and that experience has little in common with Crimea. No one has accused the new Ukrainian government of persecuting Crimea's Russians the way Serbian forces ever did.

The new Ukrainian government does contain an element of extreme right-wingers, who should be isolated and removed. The large mainstream of Ukraine's government, including its prime minister, is moderate, liberal, democratic and peaceful.

Moscow's false narrative that fascists control Kiev is a ploy, a pretext.

Already Putin has reserved the right to "defend" Russians in other parts of Ukraine. So-called self-defense forces captured a gas terminal close to Crimea, just inside Ukraine.

What comes next -- and what should the West do?

There are clear signs that Putin has designs on eastern Ukraine. He may not have decided yet. And what if he orders an invasion there? What if he goes for the rest of Ukraine? After all, Russia has close ties to Crimea, but it also has strong emotional ties to Kiev. And then? Many neighboring republics are getting nervous. Their history books are replete with stories of conquest. Would Moscow dare? We just don't know.

NATO will not go to war against Russia over Ukraine. Putin knows that.

The West should set up a dual track response. First, help the new Ukraine succeed. Ukrainian prosperity, democracy, anti-corruption reform, everything the Ukrainians say they want. Many in Russia want it too.

At the same time, impose sanctions and set up trip wires -- escalating sanctions that will go into effect if Russia makes more military moves. If Moscow makes a move to seize more of Ukraine, tell the Republic of Georgia, which yearns to join NATO and already lost territory to a similar Russian move, that its request will go on an approval track.

The U.S. and Europe need to work together and speak with one voice. Obama is traveling to Europe in the next few days. Meetings with NATO allies should produce more than statements. They should produce more than threats. Real sanctions will make Putin rethink his next move, especially if they affect his oligarch friends, who enjoy homes in London and ski trips in the Alps.

Sanctions require full European participation. Much has been made of Europe's need for Russian natural gas. But gas sales are a double-edged sword. Russia needs its European customers. America's newfound gas riches could help Europe gain independence from Moscow.

The long-term goal is to convince Russia that the use of force is counterproductive, that the costs outweigh the benefits. Ukraine will always be Russia's neighbor. One country's prosperity will benefit the other.

For now, however, Putin views Ukraine's dash for an independent, pro-Western future as a challenge to his worldview; to his goal of a Eurasian future dominated by Moscow. He has shown he is prepared to use force.

He has also shown that he wants a veneer of legitimacy for his actions. That's why he is taking the trouble of placing Orwellian labels and going through faux-democratic moves. If Putin believes each region should have the right to choose in what country it belongs, he has just smashed a hornet's nest.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.

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Published on: 2:11 AM

7 days to solve Crimea crisis

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Daniel Treisman: Only a few days are left to stop the Crimea breakaway
• He says if Crimea votes to rejoin Russia, that will greatly strengthen Putin's position
• U.S. and EU need to apply economic pressure, make the case for a "no" vote, he says
• Treisman: Crimea must see the choice is between prosperity and stagnation

Editor's note: Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of "The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev."

(CNN) -- President Putin's endgame in Crimea is now clear -- and the West has only a few days to act.

On Thursday, the Crimean parliament voted 78-0 to hold a referendum on March 16. The main question will ask whether voters want the region to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia. Previously, a referendum had been scheduled for March 30 on the less politically charged question of whether Crimea should have greater autonomy within Ukraine.

If, as expected, a majority endorses secession, the story will change overnight from one about Russia's unprovoked military invasion to one about a minority's right to self-determination. That is the Kremlin's plan.

Daniel Treisman

European leaders, already having trouble agreeing on a response to naked aggression, will find it much harder to oppose the popular will of the Crimean people. At that point, risky actions to force Crimea back into Ukraine will become difficult for Western politicians to explain to their own domestic voters.

The legal status of the planned referendum is more than murky. Ukrainian acting president Oleksandr Turchynov has called it a "farce" and a "crime against the nation." But, for democratic politicians -- and the societies they represent -- going against a majority vote is never easy.

If Russia can change the subject in this way, Crimean secession will become an established fact. Putin, who assured journalists on Tuesday that Russia did not mean to annex Crimea, will then be able to claim that he was "forced to yield to the will of the people."

A people who died but would not die out

'Best case Ukraine can hope for is ... '

With just a few days to turn the situation around, temporizing needs to stop. Allowing Russia "more time" at this point, as some European leaders have proposed, is exactly what the West should not do. That Russia's Crimean clients have moved the referendum date forward suggests nervousness in Moscow -- and a recognition that time is of the essence.

In the remaining time before March 16, the West must convince both the Kremlin-connected Russian elite and the population of Crimea that the region's secession to Russia would be a mistake. Direct threats are counterproductive, but clearly and calmly articulating the consequences of such a move can produce results.

First, all the European Union states plus the United States should make absolutely clear that they will not recognize the results of a referendum held while armed bands of "self-defense forces" roam Crimea. Any decision to secede that results from such a referendum will be considered illegitimate.

To increase Moscow's isolation, it is worth exploring whether a large majority would support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly -- of course, Russia would veto in the Security Council -- reasserting the inviolability of borders in this case.

Second, the EU and U.S. should announce that economic relations would be frozen between the West and a Crimea in legal limbo following secession. In part, this freeze would be enforced by the markets themselves.

Crimea's tourism industry would have to forget about attracting Western visitors to the region's beaches. International investors would demand huge risk premiums. But Western restrictions on investment and trade with Crimea could amplify the effect. The region's agricultural produce could be banned from European and Ukrainian markets.

Crimeans must be helped to understand the choice they face: between becoming another Abkhazia -- a failed statelet on intravenous drip from Moscow -- or a flourishing region within the new, broader Europe. The EU should quickly earmark some portion of the 11 billion euros already promised to Ukraine for projects to develop Crimea's economy if it remains Ukrainian.

Third, the United States should work out a set of restrictions to place on Russian banks and corporations that do business in a Crimea that has illegally seceded. As economist Anders Aslund has pointed out, existing rules against money laundering could be enforced more rigorously against various Russian entities.

All of this needs to be done rapidly. While Washington has reacted quickly as the crisis unfolded, the EU has suffered from its chronic lack of central decision-making authority. The next few days constitute a test.

If Brussels cannot forge a strong, common position in time, then management of future crises will simply revert to the foreign ministries of Germany, France, and Britain, with the EU's foreign policy role narrowed to coordinating long-term policies.

While spelling out the costs that threaten the Crimean population and the Russian political elite, Western leaders must continue to devise "off-ramps" to outcomes that Putin could conceivably accept, but that, nevertheless, will not be seen as rewarding aggression.

The West can call for a significant increase in Crimea's political autonomy within Ukraine, negotiated with Kiev. U.S. and European leaders should also speak out far more audibly in favor of minority language and cultural rights. They should have responded with outrage when the Rada, Ukraine's parliament, canceled the status of Russian as an official language and should now praise the promised veto of this law.

It may still be possible to prevent the illegal annexation of Crimea. Putin is sensitive to the danger of splits within his political elite. The West must show him that he has underestimated the extent of political isolation and economic disruption that annexation would cause. It must work on winning the hearts and minds of the Crimean population. The clock is ticking.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Daniel Treisman.

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Published on: 3:06 AM

UKRAINE SPLIT? Crimea set to hold referendum on whether to join Russia

The parliament of the disputed Crimean Peninsula has voted in favor of leaving Ukraine to become part of Russia, with a referendum on endorsing the move to be held later this month.

The parliament, which enjoys a degree of autonomy under current Ukrainian law, voted 78-0 with eight abstentions in favor of holding the referendum and joining Russia. Local voters will also be given the choice of deciding to remain part of Ukraine, but with enhanced local powers.

In other developments:

• Crimea’s deputy prime minister has labeled Ukrainian forces as “occupiers” who must leave the region or surrender, according to Reuters.
• Ukraine’s interim government is declaring the referendum illegal, while opening a criminal investigation against Crimea’s Prime Minister, Sergei Askyonov, Reuters reports.
• The White House is imposing visa restrictions on Russians and Crimeans who it says are "threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
• Ukrainian police have cleared out a government building in Donetsk that has been occupied by pro-Moscow protesters since Monday, taking more than 70 people into custody for questioning.

Crimean Vice Premier Rustam Temirgaliev said the referendum will be held March 16. RIA reported that the referendum would consist of two questions. The first would ask whether voters wished to join Russia "as a subject of the [Russian Federation]." The second question would ask whether voters wished to remain a part of Ukraine but as an autonomous republic, as laid out in the country's post-Soviet 1992 constitution.

In Moscow, a prominent member of Russia's parliament, Sergei Mironov, said he has introduced a bill to simplify the procedure for Crimea to join Russia and it could be passed as soon as next week, the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported.

A referendum had previously been scheduled in Crimea on March 30, but the question to be put to voters was on whether their region should enjoy "state autonomy" within Ukraine.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Temirgaliev said, "From today, as Crimea is part of the Russian Federation, the only legal forces here are troops of the Russian Federation, and any troops of the third country will be considered to be armed groups with all the associated consequences."

Temirgaliev told the Interfax news agency that the region is ready to adopt Russian currency, according to Reuters.

"This is our response to the disorder and lawlessness in Kiev," Sergei Shuvainikov, a member of the local Crimean legislature, told the Associated Press Thursday. "We will decide our future ourselves.”

The vote drew harsh criticism from acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov, who said the authorities in Crimea are “totally illegitimate.”

“They are forced to work under the barrel of a gun and all their decisions are dictated by fear and are illegal,'' his spokeswoman quoted him as saying, according to Reuters.

Ukraine’s interim Economy Minister, Pavlo Sheremeta, also cast doubt on the legality of the upcoming referendum.

"We're not working out what to do if Crimea joins the Russian Federation because we believe [the referendum is] unconstitutional,” he said, according The BBC.

The region has been a part of Ukraine since 1954, when Soviet ruler Nikita Khrushchev, himself of Ukrainian origin, formally transferred ownership of the region to Ukraine from Russia. In 1992, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea briefly became an autonomous region before its parliament agreed to remain a part of Ukraine.

News of the referendum came as leaders of European Union nations were arriving in Brussels for an emergency summit on the ongoing crisis. British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters the purpose of the summit was threefold: to begin talks between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats, to show Ukrainians that Europe would "help the Ukrainian people in their hour of need," and send a "very clear message to Russia that what they are doing in unacceptable and will have consequences."

The leaders are deciding what sorts of sanctions sanctions they can impose on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, but Moscow has threatened to retaliate if any punitive measures are put in place.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in Brussels for the summit, said Russia was continuing to stir up trouble.

"We ask Russia to respond whether they are ready to preserves peace and stability in Europe or (whether) they are ready to instigate another provocation and another tension in our bilateral and multilateral relations," Yatsenyuk said.

In Simferopol, Crimea's capital, about 50 people rallied outside the local parliament Thursday morning waving Russian and Crimean flags. Among the posters they held was one that said "Russia, defend us from genocide."

In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, police on Thursday removed pro-Moscow protesters from the regional government’s building and took down a Russian flag that had been flying over it.

Donetsk city police chief Maksim Kirindyasov said the protesters – who had occupied the building since Monday – did not resist removal and were “cleared in a matter of a few minutes,” Reuters reports.

Late Wednesday, Crimea's new regional Prime Minister, Sergei Aksyonov told the Associated Press that 11,000 self-defense troops, all or most of whom are believed to be Russian, had joined with riot police and security forces to control all access to the strategic peninsula and had blockaded all Ukrainian military bases that have not yet surrendered. Aksyonov also said that his government was in regular contact with Russian officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu have all denied sending troops into the region.

The West has joined the new Ukrainian leadership in demanding that Russia pull its forces from Crimea, but little progress was reported after a flurry of diplomatic activity Wednesday. U.S. and Western diplomats failed to bring Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers together for face-to-face talks on the confrontation in Crimea, even as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced optimism that an exit strategy was possible. "I'd rather be where we are today than where we were yesterday," he said.

Meanwhile, NATO punished Russia by suspending military cooperation, and the European Union extended $15 billion in aid to Ukraine, matching the amount the country's fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych accepted from Moscow to turn his back on an EU trade accord.

The EU also imposed asset freezes against 18 people held responsible for embezzling state funds in Ukraine, including Yanukovych, his son and some of his closest allies. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Published on: 1:42 AM