COUP IN KYIV?

Quote:

a typical reflex from Setanta

Setanta wants nothing to be simple Dave. It enables him to weave the wordy winds to wow wankers with a smattering of reading.

Lust for territory has a long track record.

The Black Sea fleet and its home base were never out of Russian control.

Russia has condemned "lawlessness" in eastern Ukraine, blaming far-right militants for "conniving" with the new authorities in Kiev.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said masked men fired on and injured peaceful protesters last week.

It also accused Ukraine of not being committed to media freedoms after seven Russian journalists were detained.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of using blatant propaganda to justify troop deployments in Ukraine's Crimea.

They have also accused Moscow of stoking unrest in south-eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people across Ukraine held rival pro-unity and pro-Russian rallies.

In Sevastopol, Crimea, pro-Moscow groups beat up pro-Ukrainian activists, a BBC correspondent at the scene reported.

They came as Moscow is continuing to strengthen its grip on Crimea before a secession referendum in Ukraine's southern region on 16 March.

'Shameful silence'

In the statement on Monday, the Russian foreign ministry said the "well-equipped" gunmen opened fire on "peaceful protesters" in the eastern city of Kharkiv on 8 March.
The city has recently witnessed mass rival rallies, some of which were violent.

However, local Kharkiv police say they are treating the alleged shooting as a minor incident, according to Reuters.

The Russian statement also said the seven Russian journalists had been detained by police in Dnipropetrovsk, also in the east, who accused them of being interested only in "separate provocative stories".

"The Ukrainian authorities, in violation of all existing bilateral treaties, are not letting Russian citizens into the territory of Ukraine," the statement added.

And it also voiced Moscow's surprise over "the shameful silence of our Western partners, human rights groups and foreign media".

Ukraine has in the past firmly denied similar Russian allegations, instead accusing Moscow of distorting facts to justify its continuing military presence in Crimea.

Kiev points out that monitors of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe have recently been prevented by pro-Russian militia groups from entering Crimea and a number of journalists have been beaten up by militias in the autonomous region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted he has the right to protect Russian interests and the rights of ethnic Russians there.

On Sunday, he also defended the moves by Crimea's authorities to stage the referendum on 16 March. Mr Putin said "the steps taken by Crimea's legitimate authorities are based on international law".

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told him in a phone call that she considered the vote illegal.

Both EU leaders and the US have warned Moscow they would slap even tougher sanctions if Russian troops remained in Crimea.

Unrest in Ukraine erupted in November after former President Viktor Yanukovych's last-minute rejection of a landmark EU deal in favour of a bailout from Russia.

Mr Yanukovych was ousted last month, and a new government has been voted in by the Ukrainian parliament

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pushed back on Sunday against conservatives who’ve blamed President Obama’s “weak” foreign policy for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Crimea.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Gates dismissed arguments that Obama’s handling of the conflict in Syria or his efforts to trim the defense budget emboldened Putin, arguing that the Russian president also invaded Georgia during the George W. Bush administration.

“My own view is, after all, Putin invaded Georgia when George W. Bush was president. Nobody ever accused George W. Bush of being weak or unwilling to use military force,” Gates, who served as Defense Secretary for Presidents George W. Bush and Obama said. “So I think Putin is very opportunistic in these arenas. I think that even if — even if we had launched attacks in Syria, even if we weren’t cutting our defense budget — I think Putin saw an opportunity here in Crimea, and he has seized it.” Earlier this week, Gates told the Washington Post that the GOP lawmakers should “tone down” their criticism and “try to be supportive of the president rather than natter at the president.”

Though most Republicans agree with Obama’s policy for handling the Crimean crisis, some conservatives have argued that Obama’s perceived “weakness” on the global stage has given Putin the space to move Russian troops into Crimea. “We have a weak and indecisive president” and that “invites aggression,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said last week. “Putin is playing chess and I think we’re playing marbles,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee claimed, adding that Russia is “running circles around us.”

During his appearance, Gates also dismissed criticism of Obama’s weekend vacation. “I’ve seen this happen year after year, president after president. President takes a day or two off and plays golf. Doesn’t matter whether it’s President Obama or the first President Bush going fishing. I think you’ve got to give these guys a little time off, you know, mostly they are working 20 hours a day.”

Gates said he does not believe that “Crimea will slip out of Russia’s hand.” “I think it’s part of a long-term strategy on Putin’s part to create a Russian sphere of influence, a Russian bloc,” he explained. “I don’t think he will stop in Ukraine until there is essentially a pro-Russian government in Ukraine, in Kiev.”

Nato is to deploy reconnaissance planes in Poland and Romania to monitor the Ukrainian crisis.

It gave the go-ahead for the flights on Monday, a Nato spokesman said.

"All Awacs [Airborne Warning and Control System] reconnaissance flights will take place solely over alliance territory," the official said.

It comes as Russia cements its control of Ukraine's Crimea ahead of Sunday's referendum to join Russia. Ukraine and the West say this is illegal.

In the latest move on Monday, armed men - said to be Russian troops and local militias - seized a military hospital in Crimea.

The attackers marched into the hospital in the regional capital Simferopol, threatening staff and some 30 patients.

Pro-Russian troops are also blockading Ukrainian troops across Crimea.

Moscow has officially denied that its troops are taking part in the blockades, describing the armed men with no insignia as Crimea's "self-defence" forces.

The government in Kiev - as well as the US and EU - accuse Russia of invading Ukraine, in violation of international law.

Nato said the surveillance flights would "enhance the alliance's situational awareness".

Last week, the organisation said it was reviewing all co-operation with Russia and stepping up its engagement with the government in Kiev.

Unrest in Ukraine erupted in November after former President Viktor Yanukovych's last-minute rejection of a landmark EU deal in favour of a bailout from Russia.

Mr Yanukovych was ousted last month, and a new government has been voted in by the Ukrainian parliament which Russia says was a "coup".

The headquarters were surrounded again, by a far larger contingent than before. Some of the separatists wore mismatched uniforms and carried Kalashnikovs; all wore the red, white and blue emblem of the newly formed Crimean army bearing the motto “Prosperity Lies in Unity”.

But it is the spectre of division that is haunting the Ukrainian military here as Crimea prepares to break away and come under the rule of the Kremlin. At least a few of those laying siege to the most important operational base in the state capital, Simferopol, are former Ukrainian personnel who defected to the separatist side.

The forces of the Ukrainian government have, so far, shown astonishing bravery and resilience against far larger and better armed Russian troops. They have also resisted intimidation from the strutting "Self Defence Guards", or Soma Barona, of Russian nationalists. But now a slow trickle of soldiers has begun to change sides; and one reason for them doing so is the feeling that they have been abandoned by Kiev.

The government there, the complaint goes, has been only too ready with tough words; but that is as far as it goes.

One of the enduring images of defiance against Moscow's might was that of Colonel Yuli Mamchuk marching his men up the hill at Belbek airbase to demand the return of facilities seized. They kept going forward, unarmed, singing the national anthem, after the Russians fired warning shots.

The example has been followed across the state; other bases have refused to surrender, remaining awkward thorns as the Kremlin closes its fist over Crimea. In a remarkable display of sangfroid, the Ukrainians, more often aviation technicians than soldiers, played football as the Russians, including Spetznatz special forces, posted marksmen and brought up armoured personnel carriers.

But, as the redoubtable Colonel Mamchuk continued negotiations, facing yet another threat of attack unless he surrendered the part of the base he still held, something happened which illustrated that they could expect no practical support in their stance. A call came on his mobile telephone. It was one of the senior officials in Kiev. What were the instructions? "They just kept asking me to use my own initiative. That has been the case ever since the Russians arrived here. So we really are on our own here," the Colonel told me.
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While it is disappointing the Kiev government is not doing anything at all to help their own fighters (disgraceful really)