Russia defense minister pays visit to Crimea
Iran Press TV
Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:19PM GMT
Russian defense minister has paid a visit to Crimea as all troops loyal to Ukraine leave their bases on the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
Sergei Shoigu, accompanied by a group of Defense Ministry officials, inspected the Russian Black Sea Fleet based in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol and also met with the territory's Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov on Monday.
He appointed Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky, the former Ukrainian Navy commander, as the new Russian Black Sea Fleet deputy commander. Berezovsky defected to the pro-Russian officials one day after he was appointed to the post by Kiev last week.
Shoigu is the first Russian official to travel to Crimea since the peninsula separated from the former Soviet state and rejoined Russia a week ago.
The developments come on the same day that Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov ordered the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Crimean region, shortly after Russian forces took control of a naval base in the port city of Feodosia.
'All Ukrainian soldiers have either switched to the Russian side or are leaving the territory of Crimea,' Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted Crimea's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev as saying on Monday.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which 96.8 percent of Crimeans voted for union with Russia, with a turnout of 83.1 percent.
On March 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law documents that officially made the Black Sea peninsula part of the Russian territory despite condemnation from the West and the new Ukrainian government.
SSM/HMV/SS
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