By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and ANDREW HIGGINS 7:46 AM ET
Sergei Aksyonov, the new prime minister, appealed to Russia to ensure
“peace and tranquility” in the region as he declared control over the
military, the police and other security services.
SIMFEROPOL
Ukraine — As Russian-backed armed forces effectively seized control of
Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin of
Russia formally requested that the Russian Senate authorize him to use
military force in Ukraine.
Mr.
Putin’s request, largely a formality, acknowledged publicly for the
first time the Kremlin’s readiness to intervene militarily in Ukraine,
and it served as a blunt response to President Obama who just hours
earlier had pointedly warned Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Even
as Mr. Putin submitted his request to the Senate, formally called the
Federation Council, it was clear that forces allied with Moscow were
largely in control of the disputed peninsula.
Just
a few hours earlier on Saturday morning, e the newly installed,
pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea declared that he had sole control
over the military and the police in the disputed peninsula and he
appealed to Mr. Putin for help in safeguarding the region.
The prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, also said a public referendum on independence would be held on March 30.
On
a day of frayed nerves and set-piece political appeals that recalled
ethnic conflicts of past decades in the former Soviet bloc — from the
Balkans to the Caucasus — pro-Russian forces were said to have taken
control of a government building in Kharkiv, and a crowd in the center
of Donetsk pulled down the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag and raised a
Russian one.
Rostov-on-Don
50 Miles
Don
River
UKRAINE
Sea of
Azov
RUSSIA
CRIMEA
Simferopol
Airport
Simferopol
Belbek Airport
Sevastopol
Black Sea
Alison Smale reported from Simferopol, Ukraine, and David M. Herszenhorn reported from Kiev, Ukraine.
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