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Ukraine is drawing up plans to withdraw its soldiers and their families from Crimea, Kiev's
security chief says. Andriy Parubiy said they wanted to move them
"quickly and efficiently" to mainland Ukraine. Earlier, pro-Russian forces seized two naval
bases - including Ukraine navy's HQ - in Crimea. Kiev says its navy chief has been detained.
It comes a day after Crimean leaders signed a treaty with Moscow absorbing the peninsula
into Russia. A referendum in Crimea on Sunday, approving
its split from Ukraine, came nearly a month after Kiev's pro-Russian President Viktor
Yanukovych was replaced by Western-leaning interim authorities.
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called the crisis in Crimea "the gravest
threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War".
There were charged exchanges in a session of the UN Security Council, during which US
envoy Samantha Power said her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin "showed more imagination than
Tolstoy or Chekhov". "Russia it seems has re-written its borders
but it cannot rewrite the facts," said Ms Power, who was then accused by Mr Churkin
of dropping "to the level of the tabloid press". 'Demilitarised zone'
Mr Parubiy, in a news conference, set out more details on Kiev's position in light of
the events in Crimea. He said arrangements were now being set up
to introduce visas for Russian nationals travelling to Ukraine.
And he said Kiev was seeking UN support to "proclaim Crimea a demilitarised zone", which
would involve the withdrawal of Russian troops and the "relocation of Ukrainian troops to
continental Ukraine as well as facilitate evacuation of all the civilian population
who are unwilling to remain on the occupied territory".
Ukraine is also leaving the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance, and
is preparing for military exercises with the US and the UK, Mr Parubiy added.
With reference to plans to withdraw troops and their families, Ukraine's interim Foreign
Minister Andriy Deshchytsya told the BBC that they would not be forced to leave if they
did not want to. But he said: "The situation is unpredictable
and uncontrolled sometimes, so that's why there is a danger also for the civilians".
Meanwhile, a deadline of 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) set by Ukraine's interim President
Olexander Turchynov for the release of navy chief Serhiy Hayduk has passed.
Shortly afterwards, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called on the Crimean authorities
to release him. A defence ministry statement said Commander
Hayduk had been obliged to carry out orders in accordance with Ukrainian military regulations.
Mr Turchynov earlier said that unless Serhiy Hayduk and "all the other hostages - both
military and civilian ones - were released, the authorities would carry out an adequate
response... of a technical and technological nature".
It is not clear exactly what he means, but it could involve the electricity or water
that Ukraine supplies to Crimea, the BBC's David Stern in Kiev suggests.