Ukraine Crisis March 2014 - Week 4
Ukraine Crisis - 26 March 2014
NATO must have a sustained presence in countries that feel “vulnerable” to Russia, US President Barack Obama said 26 March 2014 at a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels. He added that neither Ukraine nor Georgia was currently being considered for NATO membership. Obama insisted that contingency plans had to be examined and “updated” to guarantee “that we do more to ensure that a regular NATO presence among some of these states that may feel vulnerable is executed.”
However, Obama expressed concern that defense spending in Europe had fallen in several countries across the continent. “If we have collective defense it means everyone has to chip in, and I have concern about diminished efforts by some in NATO,” he said. “Our freedom isn't free,” he said, adding that it was necessary to “pay for the assets, the personnel, the training... for deterrent force.”
When asked about the possibility of expanding NATO membership to Ukraine and others in the region, President Obama said that is not an option for now. “Russia has at least on background suggested one of the reasons they've been concerned about Ukraine is potential NATO membership. On the other hand, part of the reason that Ukraine hasn't formally applied for membership is because of its complex relationship with Russia. I don't think that’s going to change anytime soon, obviously,” said Obama.
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that Russia continued to build up military forces along its border with Ukraine, despite assurances it has no intention to invade. Most Americans don't think the US is obliged to intervene in the recent annexation by Russia of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. A majority of 61 percent of Americans do not think the US has a responsibility to do something about the situation between Russia and Ukraine, nearly twice as many as the 32 percent who think it does. Even the 29 percent of respondents that favored a “firm stand against Russia’s actions” did not, apparently, include a military option in that stance. Only 16 percent of Republicans, five percent of Democrats, and five percent of Independents said the United States should consider military options against Russia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the crisis around Ukraine should be resolved by political means without imposing economic sanctions on Russia. Merkel said in Berlin after talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye that the West “has not reached a stage that implies the imposition of economic sanctions” on Moscow. “And I hope we will be able to avoid it,” she said. “I am not interested in escalation. On the contrary, I am working on de-escalation of the situation." The German-Russian trade in 2013 totaled 76 billion euros; some 6,000 German companies do business with Russian enterprises; the overall volume of their investment totals 20 billion euros. Some 300,000 jobs in Germany depend on the country’s economic relations with Russia.
President Vladimir Putin’s popularity rating has soared with Crimea’s annexation: a poll by the Levada Center, an independent Russian polling agency, found that public support for Putin had risen to 80 percent during the past week.
Russian forces took over the Ukrainian minesweeper Cherkasy, the last military ship controlled by Ukraine in Crimea, in an operation in which they used stun grenades and fired in the air. There were no injuries and the crew remained on board until the morning when they went ashore. During the take-over, which began the previous evening, the minesweeper used water cannons in an effort to repel the Russian forces who had approached the Cherkasy in speedboats.
The World Bank has concluded that Russia's already weak economy could markedly shrink this year if Moscow's standoff with the West over its annexation of Crimea intensifies. Russia’s economy is navigating an economic downturn with real GDP growth slowing to an estimated 1.3 percent in 2013 from 3.4 percent of 2012. The lack of more comprehensive structural reforms has led to the erosion in businesses’ and consumers’ confidence, which became the decisive factor for the downward revision of the World Bank’s November growth projections for Russia, says the World Bank’s Russian Economic Report ?31 launched March 26, 2014. In the past, the lack of comprehensive structural reforms was masked by a growth model based on large investment projects, continued increases in public wages, and transfers – all fueled by sizeable oil revenues.
Birgit Hansl, World Bank Lead Economist and Country Sector Coordinator for Economic Policy in Russia and the main author of the Report, said “The low-risk scenario assumes a limited and short-lived effect of the Crimea crisis and projects 1.1 percent growth for 2014 and 1.3 percent for 2015. The high-risk scenario assumes a more severe shock to economic and investment activities if the geopolitical situation worsens, resulting in a contraction of 1.8 percent in 2014 and 2.1 percent growth in 2015. Also, global risks are expected to remain prominent with continuing higher overall market volatility.”
Ukraine's Naftogaz is planning a more than 50% increase in consumer prices for household gas as of May 1, 2014, a company representative said. The prices will keep rising steadily until 2018. Yuriy Prodan, Ukraine’s parliament-appointed Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, had recently said that Ukraine was not officially notified that it no longer had a discount in the price it paid for Russian gas under the 2010 Kharkov agreements. Prodan warned Ukraine could face risks linked to cuts in gas supplies to Ukraine and a considerable hike in prices for the gas which Ukraine receives from Russia.
Ukraine Crisis - 25 March 2014
The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andriy Parubiy, told reporters in Kyiv there are about 100,000 members of Russia’s military poised along Ukraine borders equipped and ready to intrude. He said that despite assurances from Russian officials that they are engaged in routine drills, in reality Russian forces are on full alert.
Former Ukrainian foreign minister Borys Tarasyuk said Washington and London have to take a share of the blame for the loss of Crimea. “The United States and the United Kingdom, two countries, I dare to mention them by name, they did not implement their commitments according to the Budapest Memorandum on national security guarantees to Ukraine in connection with Ukraine joining the non-proliferation nuclear treaty as a non-nuclear state,” he said.
Europe is too slow and cautious in its reactions to Russian aggression in Ukraine, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said. "The Ukrainian crisis demonstrates that plutocracy is the dominant value in Europe - at a time when our principles of security have collapsed and state borders are violated right before out eyes, people are worried about their bank accounts and profits," the president’s office said in a press release. Europe’s response to violation of state borders and overruling international treaties so far has been to tell 21 people that they are no longer welcome in our countries, Ilves said. “That is not an adequate response.”
He reminded that the Russian invasion to Georgia in 2008 should have been a wake-up call but “we have been hitting the snooze button ever since.... We can no longer think that there are unthinkables of a certain type - countries do get invaded,” Ilves said, adding that the era of “Sudetenland argument” is not gone, as was previously thought.
Estonian Defense Forces Commander in Chief Major General Riho Terras said 25 March 2014 he saw no real immediate military threat to Estonia at the moment and the focus should be on NATO’s Article 5 and rapid response units. Estonian Defense Forces Commander in Chief Major General Riho Terras said the Ukrainian crisis raised the question about immediate response when it comes to NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all members. Commenting on the battle-readiness of the Russian army, Terras said “Whereas in previous years, a lot has been made of the Russian army not being capable of doing various things, today they have a very credible capability of doing them”.
The Estonian army is focusing on ensuring a fast response, as Russia has demonstrated its ability to move large units around in a short space of time. “First, it is impossible to believe that when a conflict erupts, we will have contracts that will bring us ammunition, weapons and equipment - we must have it here already. Second, when it comes to NATO, it is important to understand that if we’ve spoken about contingency plans so far, we must now seriously think about defense plans based on Article 5,” Terras said when asked about the lessons of Crimea.
Terras says he does not see a real military threat to Estonia today, but the situation could escalate. “What is important today is to determine which things work and which things don’t work: how fast will they get here, to which bases, how will they operate. It is noteworthy that when we asked for planes, it took three days and 20 hours for 18 US fighter aircraft to reach the Polish-Baltic region. And that’s a considerable amount of time,” he said, adding that dominance in the air was a vital part of military defense.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, began a monitoring mission to Ukraine as tensions simmer following Russia's annexation of Crimea. The 100 observers would gather information on security and human rights in Ukraine. But Moscow is so far refusing access to Crimea. Scores of OSCE observers began officially fanning out across southern and eastern Ukraine after Russia reluctantly agreed.
The US Senate with a 78-17 vote has advanced a bill aimed at providing a $1 billion loan and an additional $150 million in economic assistance to Ukraine’s coup-installed government. The bill also seeks to codify the US economic and political sanctions imposed on Russia following Crimea’s decision to secede from Ukraine and become a part of the Russian Federation. The bill is also designed to shift US contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable the allocation of additional loans to Ukraine. However, the IMF reform clause may stall the legislation in the House, as many Republicans oppose it as “unnecessary.”
First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plans to hold talks with the Russian Deputy Defence Minister concerning a mechanism to withdraw Ukrainian military units and equipment from the Crimean peninsula, acting Defence Minister Ihor Teniukh said in the Verkhovna Rada. "We believe that these measures will help preserve the core of the Naval Forces, weapons and military equipment to further enhance the defensibility of the state," Teniukh said. Ukraine’s acting defense minister, Igor Tenyukh, was dismissed - at the second attempt. Tenyukh, a member of the far-right nationalist Svoboda party, was criticized for failing to give clear orders to the military holdouts in Crimea. Earlier in the morning Tenyukh said in the parliament that he was resigning. Only 197 MPs voted for his dismissal, 29 MPs short of the simple majority of 226 votes was needed to approve it. Later Tenyukh’s resignation was put on agenda once again after consultations between fractions. This time, 228 MPs voted for his dismissal.
Tenyukh was appointed deputy chief of staff of the country's armed forces shortly after his active participation in the so-called Orange Revolution in 2005. He later served as commander of the country's navy and in that role orchestrated an information war against Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, before being dismissed by President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. In 2012, Tenyukh joined the Sevastopol branch of the far-right Svoboda party led by Oleh Tyahnbok, who advocates an ultranationalist ideology.
Mikhail Koval, a colonel-general of Ukraine’s border security troops, was appointed as the new acting defense minister. Colonel-General Mikhail Koval headed operative group on the State Border Service on the situation in Crimea. On March 5 he was kidnapped by alleged representatives of self-defense and the Russian military, but by the evening of the same day already was liberated.
The Verkhovna Rada dismissed Acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] Alexander Yakymenko. The decision was supported by a qualified majority of deputies (338 or more people's deputies). By Specified document A. Yakimenko was dismissed as Acting Chairman of the SBU, a position to which he had been appointed in January 2013 by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. He was among a number of former senior Ukrainian officials have been named as suspects in criminal proceedings launched following the killings of people during anti-government protests on Independence Square in Kyiv, The government appreciates the dedicated work of personnel and veterans of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said in his congratulations on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the secret service. "In this difficult period every day you face important problems in the field of national security, prevention of manifestations of separatism that require decisive action and new forms of work. I am confident that your experience, responsible attitude will be the key to their successful implementation."
The time for all unofficial armed groups in Ukraine to voluntarily give up weapons has expired, and from now on all armed units will be regarded as illegal and the law enforcement will act against them accordingly, Ukrainian First Deputy Interior Minister Volodymyr Yevdokymov said. "I want to tell the Right Sector, the White Sector, [and others]: the time for disarmament is over, it's expired. We will view any armed group and those with unlawful orientation as acting unlawfully, and all our actions will be within this framework. They will be tough and resolute," Yevdokymov said.
Notorious ultra-nationalist leader Aleksandr Muzychko was shot dead by Ukrainian special forces after going on the rampage amid Ukraine's current turmoil. Muzychko’s death followed many years of unpunished militant activity in neo-Nazi organizations. Muzychko, who also went under the name of Sashko Bilyi, came to prominence for his part in the first Chechen War, in which he headed a militant group of Ukrainians fighting alongside the Chechen separatists. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, in 1994-95 Muzychko tortured and killed at least 20 captive servicemen, breaking officers’ fingers, poking their eyes out and cutting the throats of some of his victims. Returning to Ukraine, Muzychko started a business and engaged in criminal activities. In the local underworld he acquired the reputation of a shell-shocked psychopath, frequently indulging in aggressive and violent behavior.
Ukraine’s interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has authorized the detention and questioning of the leaders of radical Right Sector party after receiving threats of retaliation for the killing of one of its notorious activists. The source said on condition of anonymity that Avakov’s order includes a police sweep of Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, which is still occupied by scores of ultranationalists.
Ukraine Crisis - 24 March 2014
The Group of Seven industrialized nations suspended Russia's membership, in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. The action was called for by US President Barack Obama, who began a tour of Europe Monday in an effort to isolate Russia. G7 countries were unable to exclude Russia from the G8. Since such a procedure does not exist, they had to announce the "suspension of their own participation" in the G8 in order to freeze this format.
The G8 was formed "on the basis of common values ??and understanding of shared responsibility," the document says. "In the current circumstances, we cannot participate in the Sochi summit. We suspend our participation in the G8 until Russia does not change its course and the political climate returns to a state in which G8 is possible, it is said in a statement. In order to continue the meaningful discussion we will meet as G7 in Brussels in June". In the context of the suspension of this format, G7 has also refused to participate in the meeting of foreign ministers of G8 in Moscow in April and announced to begin consultations with energy ministers in the G7 to ensure "mutual energy security."
G7 countries have threatened Russia with sanctions against several sectors of the economy in the event of a further escalation of the situation around Ukraine. A senior US official said continued aggression, including incursions into eastern and southern Ukraine, could trigger deeper sanctions against banking, defense and other key sectors of the Russian economy. Concerns have mounted following reports that Russia is massing troops along the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainians must take up arms against Russians so that not even scorched earth will be left where Russia stands; an example of former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko’s vitriol in phone call leaked online. Tymoshenko confirmed the authenticity of the conversation, while pointing out that a section where she is heard to call for the nuclear slaughter of the eight million Russians who remain on Ukrainian territory was edited. The former Ukrainian PM had not clarified who exactly she wants to nuke.
“I hope I will be able to get all my connections involved. And I will use all of my means to make the entire world raise up, so that there wouldn’t be even a scorched field left in Russia," she promised. The leaked phone call took placed on March 18, hours after the Crimea & Sevastopol accession treaty was signed in the Kremlin. Tymoshenko was enraged by the results of the Crimean referendum. “This is really beyond all boundaries. It’s about time we grab our guns and kill go kill those damn Russians together with their leader,” Tymoshenko said. The ex-PM declared if she was in charge “there would be no f***ing way that they would get Crimea then.”
The government of Ukraine gave Russia an ultimatum to free Ukrainian generals and admirals who are being held in Crimea. Ukraine’s national security and defense secretary said more than 10,000 personnel are being ordered to mobilize. Russian troops early Monday stormed Ukraine's Feodosia navy base in Crimea with warning shots and stun grenades. krainian navy officers had been negotiating with the Russian side for an orderly withdrawal from the base but had not received orders from Kyiv. Those orders came hours later when Ukraine called for all its remaining military in Crimea to withdraw to the mainland.
Ukrainian troops in Crimea had not yet received an order to leave the place of their deployment, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry in Crimea, told Interfax-Ukraine. “As for the situation in Crimea, as far as I know, the order to the troops to hold position still stands. It was voiced by the defense minister and I have heard of no other orders,” Seleznyov stressed. Earlier, Ukraine’s acting president, Aleksandr Turchinov, said the Defense Ministry has been instructed to withdraw its troops and their families from Crimea.
Moscow demanded that Kiev takes measures to provide security for all Russian official representation offices in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated. The move comes after a group of ultra-nationalists in Kiev attempted to break into a building rented by the Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC). The attackers announced they were willing to house their headquarters at the office as well as to use RCSC’s possession and equipment – “which are the property of the Russian Federation.” According to the ministry, the group also stole the vehicle belonging to the center. The attackers only left the building and returned the car when Ukrainian law enforcers took action at the request of Russian embassy employees and the RCSC.
Moscow believed the attack on the Moscow-Kishinyov train by far-right nationalists is “anarchy,” Russian Foreign Ministry reported. “To the horror of passengers of the train no.65 Moscow-Kishinyov, which stopped in the town of Vinnitsy on March 21, people in Ukrainian rebel army uniforms and started a “document check,” the ministry stated. Moreover, the Russian citizens who showed their passports were made to give away their money and golden jewelry. The attempts of the robbed people to address police to deal with the matter led to no result.
The eastern city of Donetsk has witnessed protests as people took to the streets demanding a referendum to decide the future of the region. The protesters hoisted a Russian flag near the city council building chanting slogans “Russia” and “Berkut”, while the building itself was surrounded by police. Thousands gathered in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov to protest for the federalization of the country. The demonstration was also dedicated to two people who died last week after clashes with members of the Right Sector movement. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Black Sea coast city of Odessa rallying against the government in Kiev. They carried Ukranian, Russian and Crimean flags and chanting slogans such as “Ukraine and Russia are together”,“Odessa is against Nazis and tycoons,” and “Referendum!”
President Aleksandr Turchinov announced the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Crimea, citing “threats to the lives and health” of military personnel. “The National Defense and Security Council has instructed the Defense Ministry to carry out a re-deployment of military units stationed in Crimea and carry out the evacuation of their families,” Turchinov said. The statement came after the First Deputy PM of the Crimean government, Rustam Temirgaliev, had declared that all military installations in Crimea had either moved to Russian jurisdiction or left the peninsula.
Ukraine Crisis - 23 March 2014
Crimea’s Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov predicted that Russian forces soon would soon invade eastern Ukraine under the Kremlin’s claim that Russian-speakers there need protection. "Here in Crimea we have been waiting [for Russia's help] and hoping for it for a very long time," he said. "Now, however, I dare to assure you, we can see that it was not in vain. I am confident that [Russia] will answer a sincere call for help from other Ukrainian regions in the same brotherly manner."
Rallies have swept eastern Ukraine, with residents protesting against Kiev’s coup-imposed government and demanding a referendum to decide on the future of the region. Thousands took to the streets in Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Odessa. About 5,000 protesters gathered in the city of Kharkov on Sunday to rally in favor of federalizing the country and holding people’s referendums in eastern Ukraine. The demonstrators also demanded to make Russian the official language of the Kharkov region. Russian is the most common first language in the eastern regions.
U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, said "We think that what we see [is] a tool now of frozen conflicts being used as a veto to EU and NATO membership... In other words, if Russia is worried about a country moving towards the West, the way to solve that is an incursion, a frozen conflict, and now no one wants to think about bringing nations aboard into NATO because it might mean conflict with Russia."
Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula sparked the biggest dispute between Moscow and the West since the fall of the Iron Curtain, disrupting more than two decades of diplomatic and economic cooperation between the former Cold War adversaries. Kyiv had agreed to withdraw all military forces from Crimea, but Russia apparently preferred to take action. Less than 2,000 of Ukrainian troops serving in Crimea decided to leave the peninsula for Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "As of March 21, less than 2,000 out of 18,000 Ukrainian servicemen staying on the territory of the Republic of Crimea decided to go to Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya has said that the chances of war between his country and Russia are growing. Speaking on ABC-TV’s “This Week” program on March 23, Deshchytsya said: "We don't know what Putin has in his mind... That's why this situation is becoming even more explosive than it used to be a week ago." In Washington, a top White House aide said it's possible that Russia could invade eastern Ukraine. Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" program that Russia seems to be trying to intimidate Ukraine by massing thousands of troops along the border. Blinken said the United States is looking at providing military assistance to Ukraine.
Head of the Russian Ministry of Regional Development Igor Sluniayev said that the Crimea depends on electricity imports by 80%. Ukraine cut the volume of electricity supplies to the Crimea by 50%, Crimean First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev said. After the power reduction, The Crimean Electric Power System carried out scheduled rolling blackouts in keeping with rules of procedure. According to Temirgaliyev, at present about 30% of the Crimean territory is off-the-line and there’s more to come. If the whole peninsula is deenergised the situation will be even more difficult, he added.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has expressed hope that a 22 March 2014 decision to deploy civilian monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would reduce tensions in the region. However, the ministry rejected any talk of the monitors entering the recently annexed peninsula. OSCE says up to 500 monitors will gather information on the security situation in Ukraine, including human rights.
Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after visiting Ukraine this weekend that he fears Russia may have opened "Pandora's Box'' with its attempt to redraw national borders in Europe. "I'm very worried the unlawful attempt to alter recognised borders in our European neighbourhood, 25 years after the end of the Cold War, will open Pandora's Box,'' Steinmeier told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "We can't overlook the fact that Russia, with its action in Crimea, is flouting the central foundations of the peaceful order in Europe,'' he said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, said Britain and its allies must be ready for different relations with Russia than what they have enjoyed during the last 20 years. Hague said this would include restricting military cooperation and arms sales to Russia.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday blasted Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea as setting a "bad precedent.'' A close ally of Moscow, Lukashenko told reporters in Minsk that Crimea was now "de facto'' a part of the Russian Federation. He nonetheless said that Ukraine should remain "a single, indivisible, integral, non-bloc state.''
In far eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, pro-Russian activists have set up protest camps and checkpoints to monitor Ukrainian government troop movements and to try to protect weapons stockpiles. On the outskirts of Artemovsk in the far east of Ukraine, a group of pro-Russian activists set up a protest camp and checkpoint outside what looks like a salt mine. But all is not as it seems. Local people say it’s common knowledge that 150 meters under this facility is a top secret Soviet-era military base, which still houses to an enormous stockpile of weapons. The protesters say they are here to stop this arsenal from falling into the hands of what they see as the new fascist government in Kyiv. At its peak, it held surplus AK production, WWI guns, German-capture WWII guns and US firearms obtained via Lend Lease during WWII. He describes arms crates stacked 10 meters high. This single facility held 3 million weapons at the close of the cold war. In deeper levels of the mine, the miners continued to mine salt. The protesters have set up tents, a field kitchen, fires and even a makeshift hospital. But beneath the picnic atmosphere lies paranoia and a great deal of anti-Western sentiment. There are Ukrainians here, but also several men in dark glasses and newer clothes who shied away from the cameras and described themselves as ‘guests’.
Ukraine Crisis - 22 March 2014
Russian forces issued an ultimatum for Ukrainian troops at the Belbek air base to surrender. The Belbek air base shares facilities with Sevastopol's international airport. Russia also has a large naval base in Sevastopol. Russian forces stormed the Ukrainian air force base, firing shots and smashing through gates and walls with armored vehicles. The troops broke into the base facing no apparent resistance from Ukrainian troops, some of whom sang the Ukrainian national anthem during the incident. Ukrainian defense officials said at least one person was wounded. The Belbek base outside the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol had been one of the largest holdouts of Ukrainian military forces in Crimea.
Kiev authorities have not yet officially ordered Ukrainian troops to leave their bases in Crimea. Ukrainian military troops stationed at Belbek criticized their leadership for abandoning them in a post on the airbase’s blog. "We are being abandoned - most sadly by our own government," it reads. "The most dangerous enemy appeared to be our leadership and our government... Today I've found an interview with Acting Minister of Defense [Igor] Tenyukh where he says he maintains contact with all troops on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, that all relevant orders were given and the situation is under control. There were only two orders – ‘remain in place’ and '[you are ] allowed to use weapons.' That’s it!”
In western Crimea, some 200 unarmed demonstrators broke through to the air base in the town of Novofedorivka. Ukrainian troops abandoned the military base in Novofedorovka, north of Sevastopol, after Russian soldiers forced their way into the facility. Witnesses said the Ukrainians tried to repel the Russians with smoke bombs before leaving the base. Russian forces seized Ukrainian military bases and warships in Crimea as Russia finalized its annexation of the strategic peninsula. Ukrainian troops offered minimal resistance.
Less than 2,000 of Ukrainian troops serving in Crimea decided to leave the peninsula for Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "As of March 21, less than 2,000 out of 18,000 Ukrainian servicemen staying on the territory of the Republic of Crimea decided to go to Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement. Those willing to continue their service in the Ukrainian armed forces will be provided with transport to carry their families and belongings to the Ukrainian territory. A total of 147 military units in Crimea have hoisted Russian flags instead of Ukrainian and applied to join the Russian armed forces.
In eastern Ukraine, thousands of residents of the city of Donetsk took to the streets, demanding a chance to vote, as people in Crimea did in a refendum a week earlier (3/16), to break away from Ukraine and become part of Russia. Among those in the region who want to keep Ukrainian sovereignty, there were fears that at any time the Russian military could move across the border and occupy Ukrainian territory, as it did in Crimea.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office has conducted 32 searches at the firms connected with ex-energy and coal industry minister Eduard Stavytsky and ex-agrarian policy and food minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk. Jewelry and millions of dollars in cash were seized. Ukrainian investigators said former Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky amassed a stash of cash, gold, jewels and expensive watches. The Interior Ministry said a series of raids on Stavytsky's homes and offices uncovered 42 kilograms of gold and $4.8 million in cash. All the valuables were seized. Stavytsky, who was in charge of negotiations on oil and natural gas with Russia, fled the country.
Police detained Yevhen Bakulin, the CEO of the national oil and gas company Naftogaz, Ukrainian acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said 21 March 2014. He said the CEO was detained “as part of an investigation into corruption schemes in the oil and gas industry.” Avakov said that only three separate corruption episodes currently being investigated by police may have cost the state about $4 billion. Bakulin is suspected of heading a "criminal group" whose members include other senior officials, Avakov said.
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