Russia says surrender Crimea or face all-out assault

Russia says surrender Crimea or face all-out assault. Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops participating in military exercises near Ukraine’s border to return to their bases as US Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Kiev.

Tensions remained high in the strategic Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea with troops loyal to Moscow firing warning shots at protesting Ukrainian soldiers.

It was not clear if Putin’s move was an attempt to heed the West’s call to de-escalate the crisis that has put Ukraine’s future on the line.

It came as Kerry was on his way to Kiev to meet with the new Ukrainian leadership that deposed a pro-Russian president, and has accused Moscow of a military invasion. The Kremlin, which does not recognize the new Ukrainian leadership, insists it made the move in order to protest millions of Russians living there.

Tpday, pro-Russian troops who had taken control of the Belbek air base in the Crimea region fired warning shots into the air as around 300 Ukrainian soldiers, who previously manned the airfield, demanded their jobs back.

About a dozen Russian soldiers at the base warned the Ukrainians, who were marching unarmed, not to approach. They fired several warning shots into the air and said they would shoot the Ukrainians if they continued to march toward them.

The shots were apparently the first fired since pro-Russian troops - estimated by Ukrainian authorities to be 16,000 strong -tightened their grip on the Crimea Peninsula over the weekend.

There was no fighting elsewhere in Crimea early on Tuesday. A supposed Russian ultimatum for two Ukrainian warships to surrender or be seized passed without action from either side, as the two ships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vladimir Anikin said late Monday that no ultimatum had been issued.

Early on Tuesday, Putin’s spokesman told Russian news agencies that Putin ordered troops participating in military exercises in western Russia near the Ukraine border to return to their permanent bases. The order was issued almost a week after Russia began massive exercises involving most military units in western Russia, stoking fears that the Kremlin might use the troops to seize territory in pro-Russian areas of eastern Ukraine.

Earlier Ukriane’s fugitive president requested Russian soldiers in the strategic Crimea region “to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order,’’ Russia’s UN ambassador said today, contradicting the president’s own comments last week, while Ukraine’s ambassador said 16,000 troops are now deployed there.

The disclosure of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s support for Russian military intervention was made at the third emergency meeting of the UN Security Council since Friday. It came amid fears that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine.

Russia faced demands from almost all council members to pull its troops out of Crimea and got no support for its military action from close ally China.

“With the exception of one member of the Security Council — the Russian Federation — we have heard overwhelming support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and for peaceful dialogue,’’ US Ambassador Samantha Power said.

Action by the UN’s most powerful body appears unlikely, though Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said, “We certainly do not rule out presenting resolutions in the Security Council in the next few days.’’

Russia has veto power as a permanent member and can block the council from adopting any resolution criticising or sanctioning Moscow.

During the heated meeting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin strongly defended his government’s actions as “fully appropriate and legitimate’’ to defend the human rights of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine, which he claimed is under threat of oppression from the north and west after violent protests swept in a new government.

He told the council he was authorised to read a statement from Yanukovych — and offered to show council members a copy — requesting President Putin to use his armed forces to restore peace and defend the people of Ukraine.

Yanukovych fled the former Soviet republic to Russia after his ouster and had said Friday that he would not ask for Russian forces.

Churkin quoted Yanukovych as saying “Ukraine is on the brink of civil war,’’ people particularly in the Russian-speaking Crimea are being persecuted for language and political reasons and “there are open acts of terror and violence’’ under the influence of Western countries.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud said the letter was just a piece of paper handed to Yanukovych which “got his signature.’’ Asked if the letter was phony, Araud replied, “It’s not a false letter, it’s a false president.’’

Power, the US envoy, dismissed Moscow’s contention that it intervened militarily in Crimea to protect the human rights of Russian civilians there as “baseless,’’ insisting there is no evidence of any threats against ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

”One might think that Moscow has just become the rapid response arm of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,’’ she told the council.

Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev again pleaded for help and sent a letter to all 193 UN member states detailing Russia’s takeover of crucial government and military facilities.

The letter described what could be the first reported casualty of the crisis. Sergeyev claimed that Russian forces trying to capture the armoury of the Ukrainian Air Tactical brigade near Sevastopol used stun grenades against Ukrainian soldiers Sunday, leaving an officer with a brain injury and in shock.

The letter also said Russian aircraft illegally entered Ukrainian airspace twice Monday night. It said all main roads in Crimea are blocked, military bases and Ukrainian ships in Sevastopol Bay are surrounded and an attempt has been made to capture the Ukrainian Navy Headquarters.

Power said the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe — which includes Russia, the US, and all European countries — was deploying monitors to Ukraine on Monday night. She urged Russia to allow the monitors to go to Crimea, an appeal echoed by many other council members.

Churkin didn’t rule that out but said it must be considered by the government in Crimea.

The Russian ambassador claimed the recent protests were hijacked by extremists and gangs of “ultranationalists,’’ and he said Ukraine should return to an agreement signed February 21 by Yanukovych — but not Moscow — to hold early elections and surrender some powers. Yanukovych fled after sealing the pact with the opposition and foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland.

Every Security Council speaker but Russia urged a peaceful solution to the worst crisis in Europe in the 21st century. Even China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi didn’t endorse Russia’s military action, saying: “China consistently stands for the principles of noninterference in the internal affairs of a country, and for respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.’’

The meeting featured several rounds of testy exchanges.

”This meeting was unfortunately totally useless,’’ France’s Araud said afterwards.

“We were hoping that the ambassador of the Russian Federation would tell us that the Russian Federation is agreeing to mediation, but they did not. They said that the government of Kiev has no legitimacy.’’