Putin tries sabre-rattling
In a sign of Moscow’s resentment of the revolution in Kyiv, Putin ordered an urgent drill to test the troops’ combat-readiness, a move that could further raise the temperature in the region.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said measures were being taken to ensure the security of the facilities and arsenals of its Black Sea naval fleet, which is based in the fiercely pro-Russian Crimean port city Sebastopol.
The autonomous eastern peninsula, which is home to a largely ethnic Russian population, is at the centre of tensions stemming from the overthrowing of Yanukovych, an ally of Moscow, by pro-European protesters at the weekend.
“In accordance with an order from the President of the Russian Federation, forces of the Western Military District were put on alert at 14.00 today,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Shoigu as saying.
The Russian foreign ministry said extremists were whipping up religious tension. There are deep-running rivalries between Orthodox Christian churches – threatening to tear “an even bigger schism in Ukrainian society”.
In the Crimean capital, Simferopol, supporters of Ukraine’s revolution and their pro-Russian opponents were involved in an ugly stand-off outside the regional assembly, where members were holding an emergency session to discuss the crisis gripping the country.
A crowd of several thousand people shouting pro- and anti-revolutionary slogans gathered outside the assembly, which pro-Russian protesters claim they are defending from the “fascists” who have taken power in Kyiv. Small scuffles broke out as the two sides pushed and shoved each other.
Protesters said MPs were debating the possibility of a referendum to decide the future of the Black Sea peninsula but this could not be immediately confirmed.
Cossack protesters hung the Russian flag across the assembly’s facade, according to Interfax, calling on the regional government to ignore what they regard as illegal resolutions by the new authorities in Kyiv.
Moscow has denounced the removal of Yanukovych as tantamount to a coup, and has become increasingly concerned by swift moves by Ukraine’s parliament to break away from the Russian sphere of influence.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Moscow’s “policy of non-intervention” will continue.
But the combat drills bordering Ukraine are likely to raise the temperature.
“They wouldn’t have done it now unless they wanted it to have a political effect,” a former British Army commander said.
The US has warned Russia against interference in the crisis, saying military intervention would be a “grave mistake”. On Tuesday, the US and Britain sought to lower the temperature amid fears that the former Soviet state would fragment.