12.30pm GMT

In the wake of the seizure of its administrative buildings, the Crimean parliament is to hold a referendum to determine its future, Russia Today reports.

It quotes Oksana Korniychuk, press secretary for the head for the parliament, as saying:

    According to the underlying principles of democracy, the presidium of the Crimean parliament considers that the only possible way out of the situation on the ground is applying the principles of direct rule of the people. We are confident that only by holding an All-Crimean referendum on the issue of improving the status of the Autonomy and expanding its powers Crimeans will be able to determine the future of the Autonomy on their own and without any external pressure.

2.49pm GMT

The defence minister of Georgia, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, has expressed concern about Moscow putting its forces in western Russia on alert but said a Russian military intervention in Ukraine was highly unlikely. From Reuters:

    "Russia occupies almost 20 percent of my territory and they got away with the military aggression in 2008," Irakly Alasania told Reuters in an interview in Brussels.

    He said he was "of course" concerned by President Vladimir Putin's order yesterday for 150,000 troops to be ready for war games near Ukraine but that a Russian military intervention in Ukraine was a "highly unlikely scenario".

    Alasania said the 2008 war had shown that Russia's military capabilities were lower than people had previously thought.

    "They know that and they know that NATO knows this," he said. "So I think they know they cannot call a bluff (by) threatening to use military force. It is not going to happen," he said.

    Alasania said Ukraine and the west should do all they could to provide a "face-saving" way out of the Ukraine crisis for Russia and that the west should provide a big financial package for Ukraine.

12:09 GMT:

Masked men are attempting to seize the archives of the Justice Ministry in Kiev. The ministry's press service has confirmed that the situation within the ministry's headquarters remains normal.

12:34 GMT:

The leader of the Batkivshina (Fatherland) party, Arseny Yatsenyuk, has announced he is not going to run as a presidential candidate. With the new presidential election set for May, the presidential race in the country has already started.  

Interesting stuff...

    Actually, the Ukrainian government and the Party of Regions were initially very supportive of the association agreement with the European Union, but backed out after the EU refused to renegotiate the agreement or to give financial guarantees and economic relief to Kiev for the trade losses and higher gas prices that Ukraine would face as a result of signing the agreement. Moreover, the Ukrainian oligarchs aligned to President Yanukovich and his Party of Regions realized that the agreement would allow corporations from the European Union to dismantle their own corporations and to replace their monopolies with EU corporate monopolies and control. The EU agreement would force Ukraine to change many of its trade laws and regulations that would disadvantage the Ukrainian oligarch's corporations and, in economic terms, allow for Ukraine to be gutted and essentially reduced to an Eastern European colony.

    The Ukrainian government did not sign the EU agreement because it is pro-Russian. Albeit the Party of Regions politically caters to Ukrainians that view Russia favourable, anyone that says or thinks that the leadership in the Party of Regions is pro-Russian or that the Party of Regions is a pro-Russian political party is grossly misinformed or lying. For many years the leadership of the Party of Regions has even openly said that they are not hostile to NATO and Viktor Yanukovych, in the role of prime minister, himself even implemented the NATO integration policies that President Leonid Kuchma was pursuing. The Ukrainian government did not sign the European Union's EU-Ukraine Association Agreement because of its own interests and not on the basis of favourable sentiments towards Russia.

    If the deal only targeted the Ukrainian economy without challenging the monopolies and privileges of the Ukrainian oligarchs, President Yanukovich and the Ukrainian government would have signed it without any hesitation. The EU deal, however, was simply unfeasible and suicidal for both the Ukrainian oligarchs and the economy. The agreement with the EU additionally would force Ukraine to cut its trade ties with its major economic partners, Russia and the other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), without providing any alternative. It would have politically hurt the Party of Regions in the future too.

    The Euro-Atlantic Drive into Eurasia: Using Kiev to Target Russia and Beyond...

    The US and EU support for the Ukrainian opposition, even if in part, is aimed at bringing Ukraine into their orbit and to encircle, isolate, and eventual subvert the Russian Federation. Resurgent Orangists and a new coalition of opposition figures have formed a new front, which can be called a neo-Orangist front, which is intensely intent on shifting Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic orbit of Washington and the European Commission through eventual membership in such institutions and supranational structures as NATO and the European Union.
 

14:20 GMT:

Ukraine's new finance minister said on Thursday he hoped an International Monetary Fund mission would visit Ukraine next week to work on a new aid package of at least $15 billion for the former Soviet republic.

"Today we requested the IMF send a mission and we hope that it will be here next week," the minister, Oleksander Shlapak, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"It will be a new programme. We will be asking for at least $15 billion and then it will become clear," he added.

The minister also said he expected the hryvna, which sank to a record low on Thursday as fresh turmoil emerged in Crimea, to strengthen soon at around 10 to the dollar.  

16m ago

Ukraine's new prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk claims $70bn have been stolen from state coffers over the past three years. He is quoted by Interfax Ukraine as saying:

    About $70bn has been withdrawn from Ukraine's financial system to offshore accounts over the last three years. Now it's clear that they withdrew the funds that were raised as loans under state guarantees and [they were] stolen by representatives of the previous government.

15m ago

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has said it will send a team to Kiev to begin discussion with the Ukrainian authorities in light of a request for assistance from the country. Speaking in Washington, US, she said:

    The Ukrainian authorities informed me today of their request for support from the IMF. We are ready to respond and, in the coming days, will send an IMF fact-finding team to Kiev to undertake a preliminary dialogue with the authorities. This will enable the IMF to make its usual technical, independent assessment of the economic situation in Ukraine and, at the same time, begin to discuss with the authorities the policy reforms that could form the basis of a fund-supported programme. We are also discussing with all our international partners -bilateral and multilateral-how best to help Ukraine at this critical moment in its history. In that regard, we are encouraged by the many statements of support that have been expressed.

Ukraine's new finance minister Oleksander Shlapak said today that the country would be asking the IMF for "at least $15bn".
 

20m ago

The UK prime minister, David Cameron, at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has said that they are "particularly concerned" about the situation in Crimea. He said:

    We both support an united and democratic Ukraine. We are particularly concerned by the situation in Crimea. Every country should respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia has made that commitment and it's important that Russia keeps its word.

Yeah right...they will keep their word just as you keep yours.
OK I am going to sleep. I hope when I wake up in the morning WWIII did not start.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

Armed men in military uniforms are patrolling the main airport in Ukraine's Crimea region, amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

It follows the ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanokovych, who is now in Russia.

It is not immediately clear who the men in the airport are, nor the reason for their presence at the airport.

On Thursday, pro-Russian armed men stormed the parliament in Crimea, Ukraine's only Russian-majority region.

Armed men seize Crimea airport in Ukraine - Europe - Al Jazeera English

The main airport in Simferopol in Ukraine's eastern Crimea region is continiung to operate normally hours after it was seized by pro-Russian armed men who had also taken over government buildings in the region in a direct challenge to authorities in capital Kiev following president Viktor Yanukovich's ouster.

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Crimea, said on Friday the men, who briefly entered the airport, were departing.

At least 40 pro-Moscow armed men had earlier annexed anumber of government buildings in Crimea, a region with a Russian ethnic majority.

"I can see four trucks, which I assume are filled with men, leaving the airport," Lee said, adding that at least nine armed men, dressed in combat fatigues, were still inside the airport.

He added that air traffic was kept "on time and schedule, some way or another."

Conflict fears rise after pro-Russian gunmen seize Crimean parliament | World news | The Guardian

Fears of a major regional conflict in Crimea pitting Russia against the west intensified on Thursday after pro-Russian gunmen seized the regional government and parliament building in a well co-ordinated military operation, while similar groups were on Friday morning controlling access to the airports of Simferopol and Sevastopol.

Early on Friday morning about 50 armed gunman reportedly marched into Simferopol's airport after arriving in Kamaz trucks. They first cordoned off the domestic terminal and then moving on to other areas. Russia Today described them as similarly dressed and equipped to the "local ethnic Russian 'self-defence squads'" that seized the parliament and government buildings.

Witnesses said the men at the airport were bearing Russian navy flags. The AFP news agency said the airport was operating as Friday dawned, with passengers checking in for flights. The Associated Press said dozens of the armed men continued to patrol the airport and they refused to speak to media. AFP said representatives from the new leadership in Kiev had been due to arrive at the airport on Friday.

In Sevastopol armed men were reported to have set up a perimeter around the city's combined military-civilian airport, known as Belbek, on Friday morning. The Interfax news agency described them as Russian servicemen who said they had gone to Belbek to stop "fighters" flying in.

Sorry these are only lousy Western news sources (or worse with Al Jazeera), while Russia Today doesn't seem to be covering it at the moment.

This is reassuring because it means the alleged events aren't happening. Even if they were, these armed men would be heroic resistance fighters and not thugs, fascists, rabble with no legitimacy.

Best thing regarding Crimea is to see what Voice of Russia is saying:

Putin instructs gov't to continue contacts with Kiev on economy and to discuss Crimea humanitarian aid - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts

Spokesman of the head of state, Dmitry Peskov has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to continue communications with Ukrainian partners on the questions regarding the development of trade and economic relations, as well as to consult with international partners, including the IMF, to provide financial assistance to Kiev and to examine the issue of the provision of humanitarian aid in the Crimea.

Humanitarian aid. That's nice.

Fears of conflict in Crimea have intensified after Ukraine accused Russia of taking over two airports there, the day after gunmen seized the local parliament buildings. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Russian forces have taken over two airports in Crimea, accusing them of "an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms".

About 50 armed men in military uniform, without signs of identification, took over Simferopol airport in the early hours of Friday. Interfax Ukraine reported that a group of people with Russian navy ensigns also gathered at the airport's building.

Armed men, described by Avakov as Russian naval forces, have also taken over a military airport near the port of Sevastopol where the Russian Black Sea fleet has a base.

The airport seizures come the day after pro-Russian gunmen took over the Crimean parliament.

Russia Today is now running this in an inconspicuous spot on the Web page:

Overnight raid: Over 50 men with Russian flags show up Crimea capital airport -- RT News

A group of men in military uniforms carrying Russian flags have raided Simferopol International Airport in the capital of Crimea, Ukraine's autonomous region. They claimed to be looking for Ukrainian airlifted forces, the airport press service says.

The airport is currently working without delays.

According to eyewitnesses in the middle of the night at least three KamAZ trucks without license plates drove to the airport with about 50 men.

At first the group cordoned off the airport's domestic flights terminal, but then pushed forward.

The airport spokesman however refuted reports of a takeover and said that about 50 men arrived at the airport to search for Ukrainian airborne troops. However, after finding out that there was no military present on the tarmac, they apologized and left the territory, Igor Stratilati told Echo Moscow radio.

On Thursday morning, when Ukraine's new parliament met to confirm a new government - or, as the chamber's speaker put it, "to move ahead with a total renewal of power" - a detachment of revolutionary troops was parked right outside in an armored personnel carrier. They were not there to protect the lawmakers. They were there to warn them. "So they don't forget who's in charge," said one of troops, Evgeny Sikanov, who had an axe tucked into his bullet proof vest and a portrait of Jesus painted on the front of his helmet. "If they even think about betraying the will of the people, I'm the guy who's going to go in there and give them a spanking."

In the past few days, threats liked that have turned the task of governing into a tightrope walk for the political leaders of the revolution in Ukraine. One week after they toppled the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych, they have begun trying to fill the power vacuum he left behind. But they are being forced to do that at gunpoint, threatened from all sides with a resumption of the uprising - this time against the revolutionary leaders themselves.

In the region of Crimea on Thursday morning, an armed militia showed how easily that could happen. Calling themselves defenders of the ethnic Russian majority in the Crimea, they stormed the regional parliament and the headquarters of the local government, which had gone over to the side of the revolution the previous day. The gunmen proceeded to call a quorum of the region's pro-Russian lawmakers, who convened a session of the Crimean parliament. Standing in the wings with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades, the masked men then watched as the chamber granted their demand: allow a referendum on the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. A large demonstration of ethnic Russians gathered outside the building to cheer the gunmen on, waving the Russian tricolor.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b36_1391163762

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

11:09 GMT:

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, has dismissed the head of the armed forces general staff Admiral Yuriy Ilyin.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleksandr_Turchynov

This guy have been everywhere...

From 1987 to 1990, he served as head of the agitation and propaganda division of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Komsomol (Communist Youth League) Committee, which was led by Serhiy Tihipko.[12] Tihipko and Turchynov became political patrons of Leonid Kuchma, then head of Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenmash missile manufacturer.[12]
...Turchynov is an old ally of Yulia Tymoshenko, another prominent Ukrainian political figure from Dnipropetrovsk. They used to have a common business in Dnipropetrovsk. In December 1993,
...In 1998, he was elected to parliament as a member of Hromada but after the scandal around Lazarenko, he left the faction and party (during May 1999) together with Yulia Tymoshenko's All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland". He was re-elected to parliament in 2002 and 2006 as part of the BYuT.
...On 4 February 2005, Turchynov was appointed and served as the first‐ever civilian head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In February 2006 state prosecutors opened a criminal case against Turchynov and his SBU deputy Andriy Kozhemyakin for destroying a file about FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Semyon Mogilevich from the SBU archive. The case was dismissed four months later.[15]
...In the spring of 2008 he was the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc candidate[16] for the Mayor of Kiev election he placed second at the election with 218,600 votes (19.13% of total vote).[17]

In December 2009 during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election-campaign Turchynov accused President Viktor Yushchenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych of coordinating their actions in their attempts to topple the Second Tymoshenko Government.[18]

On 4 March 2010, after the fall of the second Tymoshenko Government, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko resigned from that post on 4 March 2010[9] and Turchynov was empowered to fulfill the Prime Minister's duties until a new government was formed.[19] On 11 March 2010 the Azarov Government was elected[20] and Mykola Azarov was appointed Prime Minister the same day.[10][11]

In 2012 he was re-elected into parliament on the party list of "Fatherland".[21]

On 22 February 2013 he was elected as speaker of Verkhovna Rada.[2] On 23 February 2014, Turchynov was designated as acting President of Ukraine following the impeachment of Viktor Yanukovych.[22]
...WikiLeaks documents mention Turchynov, then head of Ukraine's SBU, as having destroyed documents implicating Yulia Tymoshenko's alleged connections to organized crime boss Semion Mogilevich.[24]
...Turchynov does not drink or smoke.[27] Like 1% of Ukraine's population, he is a Protestant. Although some in the media have reported that he is a pastor,[28][29][30] the Associated Baptist Press and the European Baptist Federation report[27][31] that he is an elder and occasional lay preacher at his Kiev church, the Word of Life Center, which is a member of the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine.[12]

following the impeachment of Viktor Yanukovych.

Does anybody ever heard anything from that "impeachment"? Or at least that it ever happened?

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

The Ukrainian border guard service said that more than 10 Russian military helicopters flew from Russia into Ukrainian airspace over the Crimea region on Friday. Earlier video footage emerged purporting to be of Russian helicopters near Sevestopol.

The guard service also said in a statement that Russian servicemen were blocking off a unit of Ukrainian border guards in Sevastopol, where part of the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.

There was speculation as to the identity of about 300 people in military dress in Sevastopol airport. It appears they came by helicopter from Russia :

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

Russian spy ship docks in Havana during surprise visit to Cuba
Arrival of Viktor Leonov SSV-175 warship follows announcement by Russia that it plans to increase military presence worldwide

3:02 GMT:

The Ukrainian government is ready to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union in the very near future, acting Foreign Minister Andrey Deshchitsa said after a meeting with top diplomats of the Visegrad Group, an alliance of four Central European states focused on European integration, comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Deshchitsa said that among Kiev's top priorities in foreign relations would be the completion of the plan on visa linearization with the EU and the resumption of a full dialogue with Russia, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press service said.  

Huh.How the hell he knows WHO IS GOING TO WIN next election? They lost last election and who is quarantining that not another pro Russian president and government will not be in power after next election.That's why we have elections I suppose to find out whos the one people want in power.Arrogance of these guys is unbelievable...

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

12m ago

While that press conference was going on, Russia denied violating an agreement on the movement of its troops in Ukraine's Crimea region and said that it considers events there the result of internal political differences.

The foreign ministry said in a statement it rejected a call for consultations on Crimea with the Ukrainian leadership, describing events there as "as a result of internal political processes in Ukraine".

MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday it has ordered its consulate in Crimea to speed up the issuance of passports and citizenship to members of Ukraine's elite Berkut riot police.

"The Russian consulate in Simferopol has been instructed to take all necessary measures to start issuing Russian passports to officers of the Berkut unit," the ministry said in its Facebook blog.

The new authorities in Kiev have disbanded the Berkut following last week's deadly clashes between riot police and anti-government protestors that left 88 people dead and injured hundreds before Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital.

His government deployed Berkut repeatedly to contain and break up the demonstrations that began in late November, after Yanukovych's sudden decision to abandon Ukraine's planned association agreement with the European Union.

Berkut forces were dispatched to forcibly break up tent dwellings within days of the protests starting in Kiev's central Independence Square, a tactical miscalculation that added impetus to the demonstrations.

The removal of the guards was a condition in the agreement (not "treaty") brokered by the European Union.

Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and unblocking streets, city parks and squares.

Yanukovych kept his promises but the agreement was immediately broken by the fascist Pravyi Sektor rioters

Explains both why the police was withdrawn and Yanukovych's repeat appeals to the west, after all the EU witnessed the agreement through the foreign ministers of Poland, France and Germany.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

The United States on Friday called for an urgent, international mediation mission to the Crimea to de-escalate tensions in the region following an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

"The United States calls for an urgent, international mediation mission to the Crimea to begin to de-escalate the situation and facilitate productive and peaceful dialogue among all Ukranian parties," said US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power.

Moscow is against externally imposed mediation in Ukraine's Crimea - Russia's UN envoy...Russia's Permanent Representative in the UN Vitaly Churkin said after an informal meeting at the Security Council that Russia is against an imposed mediation with the aim of settling the situation in the Crimea.

"At first they even have forbidden us to take the shields. Do you understand? The shields? We brought them afterwards without advertising."
Not young and thickset officer of Berkut speaks with desperate malice.
Every day they stand in the cordoning of the governmental block. For the second week they feel only two emotional waves from the citizens: fear and dislike. Berkut are thick-skinned, they are not the prim young ladies and will not cry. But even the best trained people have emotions.
...We are talking near one of the governmental buildings in the center of Kiev. Recently in the neighboring street the radically set guys tried to break through to the Administration of the President. They had a bulldozer, chains and sticks. The conscripts of the internal troops stood in front of them. Everyone saw how that incident ended.
"And why were the conscripts put in the cordoning wearing only the helmets and without shields?"
"Don't ask me... I will tell you more. When the clashes start, the higher-ups are not in the air. The command for the responsive actions and the cleanup of Bankova Street was given by one of the officers of the lower rank."
...They are at the dead end. On one hand, they have to wait for the provocations of those aggressive guys, for whom the events in Kiev are the chance check them for firmness, every day. And on the other hand, they cannot rely on their commanders, who will easily surrender the soldiers in order to save themselves. Or will simply not give the order in the moment when this order is vital. No one waits for them in Kiev, but they cannot go home until the compromise is found.
...I am listening to the seasoned officer and I have nothing to say to him. He does not have a slightest chance to doubt anything. The protesters and they live in quite different worlds. The former will not respect themselves if they do not come out and defend themselves. The latter will not respect themselves if they violate the order.
...184,000 people serve in the Ukrainian army, 60,000 of whom the Minister of Defense was going to dismiss recently. But today the army remains aside from the processes which are going on in Kiev, because their interference contradicts to the Constitution. But there are 35,000 of internal troops and 350,000 police officers. And potentially approximately one company of Berkut from every region of the country (the half of the personnel remains in the region in order not to denude the home front).
Any confrontation gives the easiness of simple separation into good and bad. It is very easy to call the people in the helmets and flak jackets the dogs of the regime, the bloody oprichniks and to put a transparency over the barricades with the inscription "Welcome to Hell". It is easy as well to hope that the officers will not fulfill the oath and that they will take the side of Maidan and put down the shields. And it is much more difficult to realize that people may decide to go to the end just because they are bound by the oath and by their own code of honor.

Very often one can hear on Maidan the idea that people came to the rally not to support the leaders of the opposition, but to defend themselves, in order not to blush while looking into the mirror and to have the courage to look at their friends' faces.
In this sense Berkut is similar to them.

The Cossacks meet the new permanent representative in the Crimea with a "pie"
...However, according to the head of the Simferopol City Organization of the Party Russian unity Mikhail Sheremet, employees of the representative office may easily get to their working places.

"We do not allow only one representative of the President: Kunitsin, because we do not agree that this person should represent interests of the Crimea residents," Shermet noted.

He also said that, according to information he received, Kunitsin is currently located on the territory of the Crimea. Protesters prepared the newly assigned permanent representative a "pie" made of tires tied with black ribbons with the inscription: "To the traitor of the Crimea."

"We want to hug and embrace him very much, we missed him so much. And I think that we will present him with the pie and will send him back to Kiev with this pie," Shermet stated.

Previously the acting President, the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchinov appointed Sergey Kunitsin the permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in the Crimea by his decree. The former head of the representative office Viktor Plakida resigned. Both decrees were promulgated by the official representative office of the acting President of Ukraine.

Kunitsin was the head of the representative office of the President in the Crimea from April to October 2010; previously he was the governor of Sevastopol.

Armed people wearing masks tried to capture the building of the District State Administration
...According to the main directorate of the police of Kiev, the call center of the police of Solomenskiy district administration of the police received the message that unknown people were trying to capture Solomenskiy RGA. The crime scene investigation team set off to the place of the incident.
...The men refused to introduce themselves.

Sviatoshyn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoshyn

is a historical neighborhood of Ukraine's capital Kiev and the larger administrative raion (district) of the city.

06:17 GMT:

The Supreme Council of the Crimean Autonomous Republic has decided to create a special Berkut law enforcement unit, Unian news agency reported. Berkut was the name of the national crack security force that was disbanded after the rioting in Kiev over allegations that the rallies were cracked down on.

Interesting, same topic in article authored by Valery Drotenko [Валерій Дротенко in Ukrainian] - Is bloody KGB plan of Ukraine's collapse carried out?, dated 08.12.2013.

Same story appeared in Ukrainian om 24-02-2014 after the black militia "sniper" attack on Instytutska Street.

Who Were Snipers In Kiev Massacre - A CIA-Svoboda False Flag Op?

Radio Free Europe published the black militia "snipers" video  on 20.02.2014 and UK newspaper The Guardian spliced both videos together for publication the same day. This was pure Western propaganda as the first video by rferl « RadioSvoboda.org » was taken during the riots in the night of 28/29 November 2013.

Coverage here.

Cross-posted from Moon of Alabama.

'Sapere aude'

09:32 GMT:

Unidentified gunmen from Kiev made an attempt to seize the building of the Interior Ministry in Crimea in the early hours of March 1, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. The attempt was thwarted by the Simferopol self-defense squads, but several people have been injured as a result of the clashes.

"This attempt confirms the intention of prominent political circles in Kiev to destabilize the situation on the peninsula," the ministry's statement reads. "We call on those in Kiev who give such orders to exercise restraint. We consider it highly irresponsible to further aggravate the tense situation in Crimea."

09:58 GMT:

A referendum on the future of Crimea will take place March 30, two months earlier than previously scheduled, said the Chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, Sergey Aksenov, RIA Novosti reported.

07:50 GMT:

Russia won't disregard Crimean authorities' appeal for help to ensure peace and calm on Crimean territory, a source in the Kremlin told RIA Novosti.

07:18 GMT:

The Crimean premier, Sergey Aksenov, has declared that firearms have been used in the clashes in the region, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

He said he will be managing all national security forces in the region, and has asked Russia's President Vladimir Putin for help in ensuring peace in Crimea.  

11.03am GMT

Here's more from Reuters on Gazprom.

    Ukraine may lose a discount to the gas price it now pays to Russia's state gas company Gazprom due to Kiev's outstanding gas debt, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters on Saturday.
    In December, Russia agreed to reduce gas prices for Kiev by about a third, to $268.50 per 1,000 cubic metres from around $400 which Ukraine had paid since 2009, after ousted President Viktor Yanukovich spurned an EU trade deal in favour of closer ties to Moscow.
    Kupriyanov said Ukraine's outstanding gas debt stood at $1.55 billion for 2013 and gas deliveries so far this year.
    "It seems that with such gas payments and fulfilment of its obligations Ukraine may not keep its current gas discount. The gas discount agreement assumed full and timely payment," he said.
    The deal allowed for the price to be revised quarterly between the 5th and 10th day of the first month every quarter.

 

The ex-Israeli soldier who led a Kiev fighting unit
'Delta' has headed 'the Blue Helmets of Maidan' of 40 men and women - including several IDF veterans - in violent clashes with government forces.
...He calls his troops "the Blue Helmets of Maidan," but brown is the color of the headgear worn by Delta -- the nom de guerre of the commander of a Jewish-led militia force that participated in the Ukrainian revolution. Under his helmet, he also wears a kippah.
...As platoon leader, Delta says he takes orders from activists connected to Svoboda, an ultra-nationalist party that has been frequently accused of anti-Semitism and whose members have been said to have had key positions in organizing the opposition protests.
Still, Delta's reasons for not revealing his name betray his sense of feeling like an outsider. "If I were Ukrainian, I would have been a hero. But for me it's better to not reveal my name if I want to keep living here in peace and quiet," he said.  

11:52 GMT:

Crimea's authorities and Russia's Black Sea Fleet have agreed to jointly provide security of the fleet's facilities, reports RIA Novosti.

They are also cooperating in ensuring public order and safety of the vital points in the Autonomous Republic, the chairman of the region's council of ministers, Sergey Aksyonov has said.

11:40 GMT:

A municipal office of internal affairs has been set up in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the city's coordination council says.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ccc8o9PgKK0
Once again "peaceful" protesters and "brutal" police...


Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

12:10 GMT:

Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk to protest the new Kiev government. Some of the protesters held Russian flags, with reports saying one of them was placed on top of the building of the regional administration. Anti-Maidan protesters made calls to protect their city against "occupation and intervention" on Twitter, while other Twitter users called the situation "separatism" and "propaganda." Pro-Russian sentiments are traditionally strong in the eastern Ukrainian region, where many people say they have been outraged by what they consider to be a coup in Kiev.  

The Crimean Anti-Coup Move

...According to news appearing in the French, Ukrainian and Russian press, Turkish Intelligence has a finger in the ongoing pro-EU protests in Ukraine. News stories from these three nations have claimed that the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) organized the transfer of separatist, jihadist Tatars trained in Turkey to the Ukraine.

...Voice of Russia reports about an alleged Anonymous hack of emails between the coup plotters in Kiev and a Tartar leader:

    [H]ackers posted a quote from one of the emails:

    "Everything is going according to the plan. We are ready to proceed with the second part of the play. As agreed earlier last week, my guys together with people from the "Karpatskaya Sech" and UNA-UNSO will arrive wherever is needed and with the necessary weapons. You only need to let us know the addresses of the warehouses in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Feodosia and Yalta, and the time of the meeting...Don't worry about the money, everything will be fine, just a little bit later. In the end, you know that if we succeed, you will get a lot more."

    According to the text, the neo-Nazi organization "Trizub imeni Stepan Bandera" along with "Karpatskaya Sech " and UNA-UNSO are ready to fulfill all the dirty work: to kill, burn and banish all the opponents of Maidan from Crimea. Crimean Tatars should "only" provide them with "instruments", ie weapons and store them in the most important cities of the Crimea.

    A lot of people might consider that the Ukrainian nationalists and Crimean Tatars pursue different goals, and their union at first glance looks quite unnatural. However, they have one aim in common, which is to eliminate the Russian-speaking population from the Crimean region and for that their «union» is neccessary in pursuing the common strategic objective.

    It is also important to note that Aslan Omer Kyrymly is the founder of several companies and president of the board of the Crimean International Business Association (CIBA). He controls serious financial flows associated with various business projects, both in Ukraine and abroad. It is believed that Aslan Omer Kyrymly is a true leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars.
 

Turks...don't they have enough trouble at home?

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein

Putin asks Federation Council for permit to send armed forces in Ukraine

Putin asks Federation Council for permit to send armed forces in Ukraine
 

Families of Berkut officers cry for help and ask to stop bullying and humiliation
Families of officers of the special division Berkut living in a hostel in Krasnozvezdny Street in Kiev, ask all not indifferent people to protect them from constant humiliation, bullying and threats.

Their cry for help they have placed on social networks, including Facebook.

Ukrainian anarchist analysis of the situation following the overthrow of Yanukovych, pointing out that the opposition in power alongside fascist groups will not improve the lot of the working class.
...New dictators hasten to take the place of the Party of Regions. They will not hesitate to rely not only on considerably weakened security agencies, but on the far right militants as well. The regime of police and prosecutorial arbitrariness deserved its overthrow unconditionally, but now there may come a time for a new terror that will justify itself ideologically.
... Batkivshchyna as well as the Party of Regions has virtually no serious grassroot support or activist base, but it has large enough material resources.

In order to stay in power, Yulia Tymoshenko's team will have to appease the far rightists, the Right Sector in particular. Two such attempts have already been made - the fascists who had been imprisoned in cases not related to the Maidan were released after the enactment of the according law in the Parliament. New Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has promised to introduce representatives of the RS in his ministry. Now we'll be able to call the cops "Nazis" with a good reason. But Batkivshchyna is clearly frightened of such a passionate and uncontrolled element in power. So they will try to get the far-right on the hook, not only by buying but also by tying them with blood. Right Sector dreams of settling old accounts with subcultural anti-fascists, so they were carefully supplied with the Security Service or police dossiers containing personal data. Probably in the near future the authorities will close their eyes to violence against the left or racist attacks, but will recall it a few months later, when they will need an excuse to reign in the uncomfortable allies
...Right Sector leads its own game, and has been doing so for long enough. Today its leader Dmitry Jarosh claims entry into power at a very high level, as a deputy prime minister for law enforcement agencies. At the same time, as reported by the journalist Mustafa Nayem, according to the records found in the Presidential Administration, Yarosh was communicating with Yanukovych or his representatives on February 20. Even before that, on January 28 the negotiations between the Right Sector and Security Service / Ministry of Internal Affairs were officially announced. A day later representatives of the right let this fact slip, declaring "the desire to join the negotiation process." Probably such negotiations actually has been taking place since much earlier, especially when one considers the background of all the organizations that were a part of "Right Sector": "Tryzub" ("Trident") as well as SNA, and "Bely Molot" ("White Hammer") have in various forms actively interacted with politicians from both system parties, and with the security forces since the 90s - 2000s.
...Now Svoboda has a chair in the prosecutor's office. It is symbolic, because the cops and prosecutors always work closely and at the same time hate each other;
...After losing his job, Nalivaychenko worked with the ultra-right (including future Svoboda activist Eugene Karas, known under the pseudonym "Vortex"), trying to create a movement "Otpor", but this project was not successful.
... Brown center is confronted by at least as brown regions. The only difference is the historical tradition to which they appeal. All of them will focus on their "fight for traditional values", appealing to the social partnership and at the same time slashing social expenditures.

We take no side in the conflict between the Ukrainian and the Russian nationalists. But many protesters against the regime of Yanukovych will be dissatisfied with both the rapacious policies of Batkivshchyna, which will hit the pocket of workers, and the "national revolution" of Right sector and Svoboda, which will try to take away the remnants of human rights and freedoms. It is these people who are indifferent to the ultra-right and critical of the system opposition, the "disgruntled members of the Maidan," who can soon fill the ranks of the left and anarchists.

Update March 1, 2014: On Saturday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia asked the Russian Senate to authorize the use of military force in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia played the genial host at the Olympic Games in Sochi, but his dangerous approach to geopolitics could be his true legacy. On Friday, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, said that Russian troops had taken control of two airports in Crimea and that the Russian Navy was blocking the Ukrainian Coast Guard.

Moscow denied that it had sent troops in. But the fact is, Russia was outrageously provocative when it put 150,000 troops on high alert on Wednesday for war games near Ukraine's border and then on Friday allowed the deposed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, to give a news conference when he showed up in the Russian city Rostov-on-Don.

The situation has now gone from chaos to the verge of military confrontation. The pro-Russia region of Crimea is seething, and the new central government that took over in Kiev after Mr. Yanukovych fled is barely functioning.