Mystery military roaming Crimea
Heavily armed military forces roaming Ukraine's Crimea are believed to
be Russian -- but they are without uniform insignia and refuse to say
whose orders they are following.
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Obama warns Russia against Ukraine intervention, says 'there will be costs'
March 1, 2014 -- Updated 0143 GMT (0943 HKT)
Masked gunmen occupy Crimea
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: U.S. State Department warns Americans against non-essential travel to Ukraine
- "There will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine," President Barack Obama says
- "We are strong enough to defend ourselves," Ukrainian ambassador says
- Russian President Vladimir Putin to EU leaders: Ukraine must avoid an escalation of violence
"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside Ukraine," U.S. President Barack Obama said in televised comments from the White House.
"...It would be a clear
violation of Russia's commitment to respect the independence and
sovereignty and borders of Ukraine and of international laws."
Obama said any violation
of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "deeply
destabilizing, and he warned "the United States will stand with the
international community in affirming that there will be costs for any
military intervention in Ukraine."
Photos: Ukraine in transition
Obama: We stand for Ukraine sovereignty
Ukraine ambassador appeals to U.N.
Ukraine: Russian soldiers invaded airport
The remarks were the
latest in a series of fast-moving developments that saw Ukrainian
officials grappling with rising secessionist passions in the
Russian-majority region, where the airspace has been closed and
communications have been disrupted.
Ukraine accused Russian
Black Sea forces of trying to seize two airports in Crimea but said
Ukrainian security forces prevented them from taking control.
Ukraine Interior Minister
Arsen Avakov earlier characterized the presence at the airport of
unidentified armed men, who wore uniforms without insignia, as an "armed
invasion."
The crisis echoed
throughout the world, with the U.N. Security Council president holding a
private meeting about the crisis enveloping Ukraine and world leaders
calling armed groups not to attempt to challenge Ukrainian sovereignty.
'This group is making a serious mistake'
At a press conference
outside the U.N. Security Council, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.N.,
Yuriy Sergeyev said the country was prepared to defend itself and urged
the U.N.'s moral and political support for the Kiev government,
particularly in Crimea.
Since last week's ouster
of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine has faced a deepening schism,
with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and
its European Union tilt, while many in the east preferring a Ukraine
where Russia casts a long shadow.
Nowhere is that feeling
more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the
new political leadership. And Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting
tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for
separation by its Russian majority.
"We still have a chance to stop the negative developments and separatism," Sergeyev said.
Sergeyev accused Russia
of violating its military agreement by blocking Ukrainian security
forces, including its border guards and police, in the region.
"This group is making a serious mistake challenging our territorial integrity," he said.
But Russia's ambassador
to the United Nations, Vitaliy Churkin, compared the reports of Russian
troops taking charge of positions on the ground to rumors that "are
always not true."
"We are acting within the framework of our agreement," he said.
Even so, U.S. military commanders and intelligence agencies were scrambling Friday to determine what was needed to get a better picture of Russian movements.
That included an assessment of intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance needs, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
The U.S. State
Department warned Americans to defer all non-essential travel to
Ukraine, particularly the Crimea region, "due to the potential for
instability following the departure of former President Yanukovych and
the establishment of a new government."
Meanwhile, Obama is
considering not attending the G8 Summit in Sochi, Russia, in June, if
Russian troops remain in the Ukraine, a senior administration official
familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kerry talks to Russian foreign minister
The Russian Foreign
Ministry said maneuvers of armored vehicles from the Russian Black Sea
Fleet in Crimea were needed for security and were in line with bilateral
agreements.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on
Friday morning about the airport and military activities, and Lavrov
told Kerry that the Russians "are not engaging in any violation of the
sovereignty" of Ukraine. Russia has a military base agreement with the
country.
Lavrov told him the military exercises were prescheduled and unrelated to the events in Ukraine, Kerry said.
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"I nevertheless made it
clear that that could be misinterpreted at the moment,'' Kerry said,
"and there are enough tensions that it is important for everybody to be
extremely careful not to inflame the situation and send the wrong
messages."
Yanukovych's news conference was under way in Russia, Kerry said, as he spoke with Lavrov.
Kerry said Lavrov had reaffirmed to him a commitment that Russia would "respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."
"We would overwhelmingly
stress today that we urge all parties -- all parties; that includes the
new interim technical government, rightists, oppositionists and others,
anybody in the street who is armed -- we urge all parties to avoid any
steps that could be misinterpreted or lead to miscalculation or do
anything other than to work to bring that peace and stability and
peaceful transition within the governing process within Ukraine," Kerry
said.
Russian response
In a telephone call with
European leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the
importance of avoiding a further escalation of violence in Ukraine, the
Kremlin said in a prepared statement Friday.
Putin also called for a
normalization of the situation, speaking with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council
President Herman Van Rompuy, according to the Kremlin.
Crimea was handed to
Ukraine by the Soviet Union in 1954. Just over half its population is
ethnic Russian, while about a quarter are Ukrainians and a little more
than 10% are Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim group oppressed
under former Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
Meanwhile, Russian
lawmakers introduced two bills Friday to simplify annexing new
territories into the Russian Federation and simplify access to Russian
citizenship for Ukrainians, the state news agency Itar Tass said.
One bill also stipulates
that the accession of a part of a foreign state to Russia should be
taken through a referendum, according to Russian state news agency RIA
Novosti.
Ukraine's President in Russia
Making his first public
appearance since his ouster Saturday, Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovych said the newly appointed interim government was not
legitimate and did not represent the majority of Ukraine's 45 million
citizens.
"I intend to continue
the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who, with fear and
with terror, are attempting to replace the power," Yanukovych said in
Russian, not Ukrainian.
"Nobody has overthrown me. I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to a direct threat to my life and my nearest and dearest."
In his hourlong news
conference, Yanukovych accused the interim authorities in Ukraine of
propagating violence. He spoke against a backdrop of Ukraine's
blue-and-yellow flags before reporters in the Russian city of
Rostov-on-Don about 700 miles south of Moscow.
"I never gave any orders
to shoot," he said, adding that he sought peace and that the security
forces took up arms only when their lives were at risk.
Yanukovych is wanted in
Ukraine on charges connected to the deaths of demonstrators, who were
protesting his decision to scrap a European Union trade deal in favor of
one with Russia.
Armed men at airports
Back in Kiev, Andrii
Parubii, chief of national security and defense, said Ukrainian military
and police forces had stopped Russian military forces from seizing two
airports in the Crimean region.
The Russian military is
on the outside of both airports, Parubii said in a televised news
conference from the Ukrainian parliament.
Weapons were not used during the operation, according to Avakov, the interior minister.
Russian armored vehicles were moving toward Simferopol, the regional capital, on Friday, the Ukrainian news outlet TSN reported.
Men in military uniforms
had been seen patrolling the airport in Simferopol, as well as a
military and civilian airbase in nearby Sevastopol since early Friday.
Avakov said the armed
men at the Sevastopol air base were troops from Russia's Black Sea
Fleet, stationed in the port city. They were in camouflage uniforms
without military insignia, he said.
The presence of the armed men has not affected the Simferopol airport, civil aviation authorities said.
"We are checking to make
sure that no radicals come to Crimea from Kiev, from the Ukraine," said
one man outside the airport, who didn't give his name. "We don't want
radicals, we don't want fascism, we don't want problems."
Other men outside the
airport, dressed in black rather than military fatigues, said they
belonged to the pro-Russia Unity Party and had come on the orders of the
new Crimean administration -- voted in Thursday after armed men seized
regional government buildings.
Concerned about the
latest developments, Ukraine's parliament passed a resolution Friday
that demanded Russia halt any activity that can be interpreted as an
attack on its sovereignty.
Moscow alarmed some
observers by announcing the surprise military exercises Wednesday in its
western and central areas, near the Ukraine border.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's
largest telecom firm was unable to provide data and voice connectivity
between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine because unknown people had seized
telecommunications nodes and destroyed cables, it said Friday. There is
almost no phone connectivity or Internet service across Crimea, said
Ukrtelecom, which is the only landline provider.
MORE UKRAINE COVERAGE
- Crimea: What you need to know
- Is Crimea Europe's next war?
- Gunmen patrol Crimea airports
- Diplomat: Ukraine situation 'dire'
- NEW U.S. scrambles its Russia spying
- Yanukovych: I'm still the boss
U.S. scrambles on Russia monitoring over Ukraine
March 1, 2014 -- Updated 0137 GMT (0937 HKT)
Armed men patrol outside the
Simferopol International Airport in Ukraine's Crimea region on Friday,
February 28. The gunmen, whom Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov
called part of an "armed invasion" by Russian forces, appeared around
the airport without identifying themselves. Crimea is an autonomous
republic of Ukraine with an ethnic Russian majority. It's the last large
bastion of opposition to Ukraine's new political leadership after
President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster.
HIDE CAPTION
Ukraine in transition
The list covers
additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. No
military action is being planned at this point.
The goal is "to be inside
the Russian decision making cycle," essentially to have as close to
real time information as possible about Russian intentions and actions,
one senior U.S. official said.
Gen. Philip Breedlove, head of the U.S. European Command, has a big role in leading the effort.
"He is assessing the
situation and seeing what is clearly developing into a crisis," a U.S.
official told CNN. "He is ensuring he is prepared. His job is to have
options for the President."
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Masked gunmen occupy Crimea
Those options for now do not include any U.S. planning for military action.
Breedlove and other
senior officials are instead looking at what additional satellite
coverage, communications intercepts, and intelligence gathering they
need to be able to more fully monitor Russian movements, the official
said.
The United States has
struggled to determine the identity of armed men wearing uniforms
without insignias who have appeared in a variety of locations in
Ukraine, including the Crimea region where Russia has been conducting
what it calls routine military activities.
The United States still
believes Russia will not engage in large-scale intervention in Ukraine.
But the spate of small-scale incursions has raised concerns to the point
where American officials want to ensure the level of intelligence on
the region is adequate.
According to the latest
U.S. assessment, there has been an uncontested arrival of Russian
military forces by air at a Russian base in Crimea. They are believed to
be Russian land forces, CNN was told.
Breedlove is also
looking for a better assessment of news reports and social media as
public information becomes a major resource for assessing the situation,
a second official said.
The U.S. effort is also aimed at closely monitoring the 150,000 Russian troops exercising along the Ukraine border.
Because they are so close, the United States would have little warning if those troops were ordered to cross into Ukraine.
"Our ability to know
what the Russians are doing there is much more limited," than the United
States would like, the official said.
- COPY http://edition.cnn.com
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