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Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych finally resurfaces, Russia ramps up military exercises
at the border, and presumably pro-Russian gunmen take over a Ukrainian government building.
Tensions in the former Soviet state clearly remain high even with last week's violence
over.
"Men armed with Kalashnikovs wearing soldiers' uniforms — but without any kind of insignia
saying who they are — have gone into the building and taken control." (Via Sky News)
The Kyiv Post tweeted a picture reporting the gunment flew a Russian flag over the building
after taking it. (Via Twitter / @KyivPost)
The Kyiv Post reports confrontations of crowds thousands strong Wednesday into Thursday morning
left two dead and 30 injured.
"We saw thousands of people in front of this very same building, some chanting 'Crimea
is part of Ukraine!' Some screaming, 'Crimea is part of Russia!' It was very tense, very
rowdy." (Via CNN)
The pushback against the recent government upheaval in the Crimea region of the Ukraine
isn't entirely surprising. Crimea was one of the last strongholds in the country loyal
to ousted President Yanukovych.
Crimea is a peninsula in the southeast part of the country and borders Russia. People
there have been predominantly Russian since World War II when Joseph Stalin persecuted
and tried to marginalize a pro-Ukraine ethnic group there called the Tatars. (Via Google
Earth)
All this as Russia began performing massive military exercises along the Ukrainian border
Wednesday in what many view as a show of power.
"One hundred fifty thousand troops combat troops are on high alert. ... Russia's defense
minister refers to them as an inspection of their capabilities in crisis situations."
(Via BBC)
Those military exercises prompted a warning from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not
to cause a crisis situation.
KERRY: "Any kind of military intervention that would violate the sovereign territorial
integrity of Ukraine would be a huge, a grave mistake. The territorial integrity of Ukraine
needs to be respected." (Via Fox News)
NATO's Secretary General also chimed in Thursday morning tweeting, "I'm concerned about developments
in #Crimea. I urge #Russia not to take any action that can escalate tension or create
misunderstanding" (Via Twitter / @AndersFoghR)
Protests in Ukraine started in November and then turned violent last month after President
Yanukovych's government spurned a deal with the European Union and took a bailout from
Russia instead. (Via RT)
After handing over power last week, Yanukovych disappeared. Witnesses say they spotted him
in Moscow Tuesday. Yanukovych calls the new transitional government illegal, and local
media agencies report he asked for and received protection in Russia.