Russia's Parliament Prepared To Authorize Crimea Intervention
This post was updated at 8:40 a.m. ET.
Ukraine's defense minister says that some 6,000 additional Russian troops have entered the Crimea in a move apparently aimed at ensuring Moscow's continued access to the strategic Black Sea peninsula. Meanwhile, the head of Russia's Duma says the body is ready to legitimize the intervention, set in motion by last week's ouster of Ukraine's Russian-leaning president.
The military moves, involving mysterious balaclava-clad soldiers, follow this week's installation in Crimea of Sergiy Aksyono, who is pro-Russian and formally asked Moscow for help in stabilizing the region. Kiev has deemed illegal Aksyono's election illegal.
Aksyono claimed on Saturday that he's coordinating directly with troops from Russia's Black Sea Fleet and that those forces were guarding government buildings.
NPR's Emily Harris reports from the Ukrainian capital that the new government there has accused Russia of breaking an agreement about stationing its troops in the Crimea, a southern peninsula in the former Soviet satellite that has long been considered strategically important to Russia as a base for its Black Sea fleet.
Russia's Interfax news agency quotes Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk as demanding that Russia "recall their forces, and return them to their stations."
"Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said in an apparent reference to pro-Russian partisans in eastern Ukraine.
Harris reports:
"Ukraine's defense minister says Russia has increased military personnel in Crimea by 6,000 troops. His office put out a statement saying if 'radical elements' enter Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea, [Ukrainian] soldiers will respond."
"Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry posted a statement claiming that overnight Friday an unknown, armed group from Kiev clashed with a local militia holding the interior ministry building in Crimea. There is no independent confirmation of that claim."