[In a strongly worded
statement after the call, the White House said the United States would
immediately pull out of preparations for the G8 economic summit meeting
scheduled for Sochi in June. The statement warned of “greater political and
economic isolation” for Russia if the country’s “violation of international
law” continued.]
By Alison Smale and David M. Herszenhorn
 |
Pro-Russian Crimea Leader Moves to Cement Control Over
Region
Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
|
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Russian armed forces effectively seized
control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, as President Vladimir V.
Putin had the Russian Parliament grant him broad authority to use military
force in Ukraine in response to deepening instability there.
Russian troops
stripped of identifying insignia and military vehicles bearing the black
license plates of Russia’s Black Sea force swarmed the major thoroughfares of
Crimea and occupied major government buildings, closing the main airport and
solidifying what had been a covert effort to control the largely pro-Russian
region of Ukraine.
In Moscow, Mr. Putin
convened the upper house of Parliament to forcefully denounce President Obama
and obtain authorization to protect Russian citizens and soldiers stationed in
Crimea as well as other parts of Ukraine.
Both actions, military
and parliamentary, were a direct rebuff to Mr. Obama, who on Friday pointedly warned Russia to
respect Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty. In the south, in Crimea, scores of
heavily armed soldiers fanned out across the center of the regional capital,
Simferopol. They wore green camouflage uniforms with no identifying insignia,
but they spoke Russian and were clearly part of a Russian military
mobilization. In Balaklava, a long column of military vehicles blocking the
road to a border post bore Russian plates.
Large pro-Russia
crowds rallied in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv, where
there were reports of violence. In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, fears grew
within the new provisional government that separatist upheaval would fracture
the country just days after a three- month
period of civil unrest had ended with the ouster of President
Viktor F. Yanukovych, a Kremlin ally who fled to
Russia.
President Obama
accused Russia of a “breach of international law” and condemned the country’s
military intervention, calling it a “clear violation” of Ukrainian sovereignty.
Mr. Obama, who had
warned Russia on Friday that “there will be costs” if Russia violated Ukraine’s
sovereignty, spoke with Mr. Putin for 90 minutes on Saturday, according to the
White House, and urged Mr. Putin to withdraw its forces back to its bases in
Crimea and to stop “any interference” in other parts of Ukraine.
In a strongly worded
statement after the call, the White House said the United States would
immediately pull out of preparations for the G8 economic summit meeting
scheduled for Sochi in June. The statement warned of “greater political and
economic isolation” for Russia if the country’s “violation of international
law” continued.
In Britain, Prime
Minister David Cameron said that “there can be no excuse for outside military
intervention” in Ukraine. “Everyone must think carefully about their actions
and work to lower, not escalate, tension. The world is watching.”
Mr. Yanukovych’s
refusal, under Russian pressure, to sign new political and free trade
agreements with the European Union last fall set off the civil unrest that last
month led to the deaths of more than 80 people, and ultimately unraveled his
presidency.
While Western leaders
grappled for a response on Saturday, a Ukrainian military official in Crimea
said Ukrainian soldiers had been told to “open fire” if they came under attack
by Russia troops or others.
In addition to the
risk of open war, it was 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.
On Saturday morning,
the pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that he had
sole control over the military and the police in the disputed peninsula and
appealed to Mr. Putin for Russian help in safeguarding the region. He also said
a public referendum on independence would be held on March 30.
The Kremlin has denied
any attempt to seize Crimea, where it maintains important military
installations, including the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet. But the
Kremlin quickly issued a statement saying that Mr. Aksyonov’s plea “would not
be ignored,” and within hours the Federation Council, the upper chamber of
Parliament, had authorized military action.
The authorization,
while citing Crimea, covered the use of Russian forces in the entire “territory
of Ukraine,” and its time frame extended indefinitely “until the normalization
of the sociopolitical environment in the country.” Parliament also asked Mr.
Putin to withdraw Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
Officials in the
Ukrainian capital, Kiev, reacted angrily and reiterated their demands that
Russia pull back its forces, and confine them to the military installations in
Crimea that Russia has long leased from Ukraine.
“The presence of
Russian troops in Crimea now is unacceptable,” said acting Prime Minister
Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk. Decrying the Russian deployment as a “provocation,” he
added, “We call on the government of the Russian Federation to immediately
withdraw its troops, return to the place of deployment and stop provoking civil
and military confrontation in Ukraine.”
Sergey Tigipko, a
former deputy prime minister of Ukraine and one-time ally of Mr. Yanukovych,
and still an influential member of Parliament, said he flew to Moscow in hopes
of negotiating a truce.
For the new
government, the tensions in Crimea created an even more dire and immediate
emergency than the looming financial disaster that they had intended to focus
on in their first days in office.
A $15 billion bailout
that Mr. Yanukovych secured from Russia has been suspended as a result of the
political upheaval and Ukraine is in desperate need of an assistance package.
Mr. Yatsenyuk had said that the government’s first responsibility was to begin
negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and start to put in place the
economic reforms and painful austerity measures that the fund has requested in
exchange for help.
In Crimea, however,
officials said they did not recognize the new government, and declared that
they had taken control.
Mr. Aksyonov, the
regional prime minister, said he was ordering the regional armed forces, the
Interior Ministry troops, the Security Service, border guards and other
ministries under his direct control.
He added, “I ask
anyone who disagrees to leave the service.”
As soldiers mobilized
across the peninsula, the region’s two main airports were closed, with civilian
flights canceled, and they were guarded by heavily armed man in military
uniforms.
Similar forces
surrounded the regional Parliament building and the rest of the government
complex in downtown Simferopol, as well as numerous other strategic locations,
including communication hubs and a main bus station.
Adding to the strange
tableau, a crowd of about 400 people gathered near the Parliament building in
Simferopol to denounce the United States.
Some waved orange and
black flags, while others held placards that said “Free Ukraine from US
Occupation” and “The USA works with Fascism.”
One elderly woman held
up a photo of President Obama with a red line through it and the caption
“Yankee Go Home.” She then helped lead part of the crowd in a chant of “Yankees
Go Home.”
Near the entrance to
Balaklava, the site of a Ukrainian customs and border post near Sevastopol, the
column of military vehicles with Russian plates included 10 troop trucks, with
30 soldiers in each, two military ambulances and five armored vehicles. The column
was not moving.
Soldiers, wearing
masks and carrying automatic rifles, stood on the road keeping people away from
the convoy, while some local residents gathered in a nearby square waving
Russian flags and shouting, “Russia! Russia!”
As with the troops in
downtown Simferopol, the soldiers did not have markings on their uniforms. They
would not say where they were from.
There were also other
unconfirmed reports of additional Russian military forces arriving in Crimea,
including Russian ships landing in Fedosiya, in eastern Crimea.
On Friday, American
officials said that they had confirmed reports of Russian troop deployments in
Crimea including special forces and specially trained marine and airborne
units. Ilyushin transport planes were said to have ferried in troops and there
were reports of Russian helicopter flights.
Crimea, while part of
Ukraine, has enjoyed a large degree of autonomy under an agreement with the
federal government in Kiev since shortly after Ukrainian independence from the
Soviet Union.
The strategically
important peninsula, which has been the subject of military disputes for
centuries, has strong historic, linguistic and cultural ties to Russia. The
population of roughly two million is predominantly Russian, followed by a large
number of Ukrainians, and Crimean Tatars, people of Turkic-Muslim origin.
Meanwhile, outpourings
of pro-Russia sentiment were also underway in eastern Ukraine.
In Kharkiv,
pro-Russian demonstrators rallied and then seized control of a government
building, pulled down the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag and raised the blue,
white and red Russian one. Scores of people were injured as protesters scuffled
with supporters of the new government in Kiev.
In Donetsk, a crowd of
several thousand people held a rally in the city-center, local news agencies
reported, with many chanting pro-Russian slogans and demanding a public
referendum on secession from Ukraine.
There were also signs
on Saturday of concern among Ukrainian business leaders over an effort by
several European countries, including Austria and Switzerland, to freeze Mr.
Yanukovych’s assets as well as those of his family members and other prominent
associates.
On Friday, Mr.
Yanukovych held a news conference at a shopping mall in Rostov-on-Don, Russia,
where he insisted that he was still the legitimate president of Ukraine and
planned to return.
Correction: March 1, 2014
An earlier version of
this article misspelled the surname of the ousted Ukrainian president. He is
Viktor F. Yanukovych, not Yanuovych.
Alison Smale reported from
Simferopol, and David M. Herszenhorn from Kiev, Ukraine. Reporting was
contributed by Noah Sneider and Patrick Reevell from Simferopol; Andrew Higgins
from Sevastopol, Ukraine; Andrew Roth from Moscow; and Michael R. Gordon from Washington.
