Russia past Crimea line

Border city seized just before vote

Ukrainian Orthodox Archbishop Clement walks past an armored vehicle Saturday outside a Ukrainian army base in Perevalne in Crimea, which votes today on splitting from Ukraine.
Ukrainian Orthodox Archbishop Clement walks past an armored vehicle Saturday outside a Ukrainian army base in Perevalne in Crimea, which votes today on splitting from Ukraine.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine - Russian forces backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles Saturday took control of a village near the border with Crimea on the eve of a referendum on whether the region should seek annexation by Moscow, Ukrainian officials said.


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The action in Strilkove appeared to be the first move outside Crimea, where Russian forces have been in effective control since late last month. There were no reports of gunfire or injuries.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry denounced the foray outside Crimea, and said Ukraine “reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia.”

The village is on a long spit reaching northward from the main part of the Black Sea peninsula, about 6 miles north of the border between Crimea and the Kherson region of Ukraine.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian border guard service, Oleg Slobodyan, said the Russians, about 120 in all, took control of a natural-gas distribution station in the village. The Foreign Ministry said the force consisted of about 80 and didn’t mention the station, but said the village was seized.

photo

AP

Demonstrators carrying Russian and Ukrainian flags march Saturday in Moscow to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine policies and what many protesters called Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

The pro-Russian government in Crimea issued a statement saying its “self-defense” forces had seized the gas terminal because Ukraine had turned off the supply of fuel, leaving homes, hospitals and schools without heat or electricity. The government also said that it found the terminal rigged with explosives “with the goal of totally destroying it,” which would cut off gas to eastern cities in Crimea.

Those claims, carried by the Interfax news service, were impossible to verify independently. Power in some parts of Crimea appeared to be disrupted in recent days, although it was possible that was because power lines were downed by high winds.

As Crimea prepares for today’s referendum, dozens of billboards throughout the regional capital proclaim “Together With Russia.” But a few have been hit by spray-painters who scrawled out “Russia” and replaced it with “Ukraine.”

The referendum is denounced by Kiev and the West as illegitimate; the West is threatening costly sanctions against Russia if it moves to incorporate Crimea. But the result is seen as a foregone conclusion - Crimea is almost certain to vote to split off, further aggravating Ukraine’s political crisis and one of the harshest East-West confrontations since the end of the Cold war.

In Moscow, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched against the referendum. Protesters carried banners that read: “For your freedom and for ours!” One demonstrator held up a plate of salo - cured pork fat that is a staple of Ukrainian cuisine and adored by many Russians - along with a poster that read: “Make salo, not war!”

“The result of this is to show Ukrainian citizens our solidarity, so they will see there is another Russia, a Russia that doesn’t want war,” said Maria Lobanova, 30, who was at the rally with her father, husband and two sons, ages 4 and 1. “I don’t understand why Europe and the United States talk about sanctions so much but don’t do anything about them.”

Nearby, a rally of several thousand people was held close to the Kremlin in support of Russian intervention in Crimea.

At the United Nations, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution declaring the referendum illegal, and close ally China abstained in a sign of Moscow’s isolation on the issue. Supporters of the U.S.-sponsored resolution knew that Russia would use its veto. But they put the resolution to a vote Saturday morning to show the strength of opposition in the 15-member Security Council to Moscow’s takeover of Crimea. The final vote was 13 members in favor, China’s abstention and Russia as a permanent council member casting a veto.

The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, preceded his no vote by saying that Russia would respect the results of the referendum, but he did not say anything about what it would do afterward. Churkin described the referendum as an “extraordinary measure,” expressing the Crimean people’s right to self-determination, made necessary by what he said was an “illegal coup carried out by radicals” in Ukraine.

The Australian ambassador, Gary Quinlan, said that despite the veto of the resolution, “the message from council members and wider international community is overwhelming.”

A de-escalation of the crisis is imperative, Quinlan said.

He urged Russia to pull back its troops into their barracks and allow international monitors into the Crimean Peninsula. The authorities there have not allowed observers, including the U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, to visit Crimea.

U.S. and European officials worked through the day readying lists of Russians to penalize after the referendum, including possibly vital members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

The sanctions would ban the targets from traveling to Europe or the United States and freeze any assets they had in either place. Western officials said they do not plan to sanction Putin because he is a head of state, nor do they intend to target Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, because he needs to travel if there are any future diplomatic talks.

The question of whether Crimea, a strategically important Black Sea peninsula that is home to a key Russian naval base, should become part of Moscow’s orbit raises strong passions on both sides.

Supporters say the region rightfully belongs to Russia and that the government that replaced fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych is a coterie of fascist-minded nationalists who will abuse Crimea’s majority ethnic-Russian population. Opponents bristle at Russia’s heavy hand. Crimea effectively is already under Russian control after forces were sent in last month.

On Saturday, thousands of pro-Russia demonstrators in the eastern city of Donetsk stormed the local offices of the national security service, smashing windows, taking down the building’s Ukrainian flag and raising a Russian one.

In downtown Simferopol, at least 1,000 people jammed a square Saturday in front of a sound stage and two large TV screens where a long succession of Russian musical acts played lauding “friendship of nations” and Russia itself. Musical acts from distant regions of Russia sang folk songs and performed traditional dances. One ensemble dressed as fairy-tale characters sang “Don’t Fall Out Of Love with Russia!” No Ukrainian flags or colors were visible.

“We have our great mother, Russia, who has taken us in her arms,” said 40-year-old demonstrator Nikolai Antonov. “If Russia hadn’t protectedus, we would have had to take up arms” against the new authorities in Kiev.

Posters on walls throughout the city center made comparisons between Russia and Ukraine for gasoline prices, doctors’ salaries and student benefits. The comparisons all suggested Russia was a more prosperous country.

But referendum opponents at a smaller rally said the economic argument is foolish.

“It’s better to be poor and live in a normal country than to live in a police state,” said Ine Sultanova, a 66-year-old retired engineer.

At a midday news conference, senior Crimean election official Mikhail Malyshev provided the first detailed figures for the referendum process. Denying rumors that tens of thousands of extra ballots had been prepared, he said only 1,512,000 had been printed in accordance with the latest lists of registered voters. He said 98 percent of polling places would be the same as in previous elections, many of them in schools.

Asked about rumors that voting cards had been sent to dead people, he responded, “Unfortunately, my mother had died and she got one, too. These things happen, but it won’t affect the results.” He said turnout estimates would be released at various times today but did not say when or where referendum results would be announced.

Violence has escalated in Ukraine’s Russia-leaning east in recent days, as pro-Russia demonstrators have seized government buildings and clashed with supporters of the new Kiev government. At least one person died and 17 were wounded in clashes Thursday in Donetsk.

On Friday night, two people were killed and several wounded in a shootout after a clash in Kharkiv between pro-Russian demonstrators and their opponents.

After the skirmish in Kharkiv, according to the reports, there was gunfire outside a building housing the offices of several nationalist groups including Right Sector, which was one of the drivers of the protests against Yanukovych and vehemently opposes Russian influence in Ukraine.

Russia has denounced Right Sector and similar groups as “fascists” who allegedly want to oppress ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

A spokesman for Right Sector in eastern Ukraine, Igor Moseichuk, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the shooting was a “planned provocation by pro-Russian forces.”

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page some 30 people “from both sides” had been detained.

The victims’ identities were not immediately made public. Moseichuk was quoted as saying the two killed were not among those inside the Right Sector offices.

The violence in Kharkiv and Donetsk has raised concern that Russia, which has massed troops near eastern Ukraine’s border, could use bloodshed as a justification for sending in forces to protect the ethnic Russian population.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Saturday in response to the violence in Kharkiv. “There have been many appeals for Russia to protect peaceful civilians,” the statement said. “These appeals will be considered.”

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, warned Saturday that “there’s a real danger of the threat of invasion of the territory of Ukraine.”

Lavrov on Friday, after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said Russia has no plans to send troops into eastern Ukraine.

But in the wake of Saturday’s movement, U.S. Sen. John McCain, part of an American delegation visiting Kiev, said at a news conference that “the United States and our European allies will be contemplating actions that we never have had before in our relations with Russia.”

Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, said Saturday that the United States is expected to respond to the Ukraine’s request for basic military items - including fuel, tires, food and sleeping bags - to support its troops. No decisions have been made about providing small arms to the Ukrainian military, he said.

The delegation met with the Ukrainian president and prime minister, who did not ask for U.S. military troops, Durbin said, but did press the lawmakers to send economic aid and place punitive sanctions on Russia.

Information for this article was contributed by Mike Eckel, Jim Heintz, Yuras Karmanau, John-Thor Dahlburg and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press; by Somini Sengupta, David M. Herszenhorn, Peter Baker, Andrew E. Kramer, Steven Lee Myers and Scott Shane of The New York Times; by Anthony Faiola, Will Englund, Pamela Constable, Carol Morello, Kathy Lally and Griff Witte of The Washington Post; and by Lisa Mascaro of the Tribune Washington Bureau.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/16/2014

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