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

Rein in Ukraine's neo-fascists

Men carrying far-right Svoboda flags wait in front of the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on February 27.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Russian President Putin says violent far-right groups are behind coup d'etat in Kiev
• David Speedie: Far-right activity might be exaggerated, but EU has condemned them
• Speedie: The far-right party Svoboda holds key posts in the new Ukrainian government
• He says the far right must be marginalized to attain a democratic, peaceful Ukraine

Editor's note: David C. Speedie is senior fellow director for the U.S. Global Engagement Program at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, an educational, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that produces lectures, publications and multimedia materials on the ethical challenges of living in a globalized world.

(CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says neo-fascist far-right groups are firmly behind the putsch -- coup d'etat -- in Kiev and questions the democratic credentials of "men with black masks and Kalashnikovs" who became the poster children of the Maidan for Russians.

Does this assessment have any truth to it? In the fast-moving and chronically complex course of events in Ukraine, the issue has been debated from the beginning: the role of the far right in the events that led to the toppling of the Viktor Yanukovych government and in the present and future disposition of political power in the country.

David Speedie

There are some known facts: First, far-right, anti-Semitic, anti-Russian and openly fascist groups have existed and do exist as a blight on modern Ukraine. A 2012 European Parliament resolution condemned the main -- but by no means most extreme -- ultra-right party, Svoboda, as "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic."

This extraordinary EU resolution contains 18 points of concern over policies embedded in laws of the Ukrainian Rada, or Parliament. A key paragraph reads that the EU "is concerned about the rising nationalistic sentiment in Ukraine." The Parliament stresses that "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values and principles."

The resolution also appeals to pro-democratic parties in the Rada "not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with this party."

As if to endorse the sentiments of the EU resolution, the leader of Svoboda (or "Freedom"), Oleh Tyahnybok, is on record saying that Kiev is governed by "a Jewish-Russian mafia" and has said Ukrainians bravely fought Muscovites, Germans, Jews "and other scum" in World War II.

This unsavory constituency, including the "ultra" Right Sector movement, manned the barricades in the Kiev uprising, providing "security" to the mainstream political opposition leaders and matching the pro-government forces in violent tactics that led to the dozens of dead in and around the Maidan.

These rightist-nationalist forces were in large part responsible for the collapse of the agreement signed in February that called for early parliamentary and presidential elections and a return to the 2004 Ukrainian constitution, which harks back to the "Orange Revolution" that brought a pro-West government to power in Ukraine.

In backing away from this face-saving compromise, one that was negotiated with the approval of the French, German and Polish governments, and which surely would have resulted in the removal of Yanukovych, moderate opposition leaders essentially capitulated to the far right.

The Russian position is also somewhat bolstered by the fact that Svoboda holds key posts in the interim government in Kiev, including that of deputy prime minister. Andriy Parubiy, the commander of the "Maidan self-defense," has been appointed the head of the National Security and Defense Council, and the leader of the Right Sector ultras, Dmitro Yarosh, is expected to become his deputy chairman. Svoboda controls the prosecutor general office and the ministries of ecology and agriculture.

At very least, the interim government has made bedfellows of some highly suspect and divisive forces.

But it is also true to say that many of the specific details of far-right activity and influence are anecdotal and perhaps contradictory.

On the one hand, there are reports of Jewish homes in Lviv and the western part of Ukraine being daubed with anti-Semitic slogans; on the other, Ukraine's head rabbi has weighed in with the opinion that anti-Semitism is "not on the rise." A group of Jewish groups sent an open letter to Putin that said, in part, "Your certainty of the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine also does not correspond to the actual facts."

It is also true that far-right forces are on the rise across Europe, including in the "respectable" democracies of the West, and that their targets range from Jews to Roma to gays to any "out" group, including the miscellany of new immigrants who are encouraged under European Union laws of free movement.

Finally, it is true that the long reach of memory evokes images from 70 years ago, those of robust support in western Ukraine for the fascist side during World War II. This is especially true in the east and south of a divided country, those regions that look to Moscow rather than to Washington or Brussels.

But these various points do not alter the fact that the European Parliament undertook the extraordinary measure of singling out Ukrainian ultra-nationalism, nor do they gainsay the role of its most influential exponent, Svoboda, in the new interim government.

In this context, and even as they may disagree on specific measures to be taken the path toward a prosperous, peaceful, united, democratic Ukraine, sober observers agree that this can be achieved only with the marginalization of the far right.

Unfortunately, the appointments of ultra-rightists to the interim government place this in serious question. Looking ahead, we must hope that the meeting in Brussels of the European foreign ministers, including Russia -- the first, we assume, of several -- may create a blueprint for Ukraine based on cooperative solutions rather than confrontation.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Speedie.

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Published on: 3:03 AM