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               Pro-Russian Forces Seize Ukraine Navy Headquarters

   Pro-Russian forces have taken control of Ukraine`s navy headquarters in
   the Crimean port of Sevastopol, a day after Russia signed a treaty with
   local authorities to make Crimea part of Russia.
   Witnesses say at least 200 unarmed self-defense forces entered the base
   Wednesday and raised the Russian flag. Ukrainian service members did
   not resist and were seen leaving the facility.
   Russian news agencies quoted sources in the Sevastopol prosecutor`s
   office as saying the commander of Ukraine`s navy, Sergei Gaiduk, had
   been "temporarily detained" after leaving the navy headquarters.
   And later Wednesday, reports said a second naval base had been seized
   by Russian forces.
   Tuesday, a Ukrainian serviceman and a pro-Moscow militia member were
   killed in a shootout at a Ukrainian military facility in Crimea`s
   capital, Simferopol.
   Thousands of Russian soldiers have overtaken Crimea in recent weeks.
   The majority-Russian region voted in a referendum Sunday to break away
   from Ukraine and join Russia.
   Ukraine`s defense minister, Andriy Parubiy, said Wednesday that Ukraine
   will ask the United Nations to declare Crimea a demilitarized zone and
   facilitate the withdrawal of both Russian and Ukrainian military forces
   from the peninsula.
   Ukraine`s deputy prime minister and defense minister traveled Wednesday
   from Kyiv to Crimea in an attempt to defuse tensions, but were denied
   entry into the region. International observers have been repeatedly
   turned away from the peninsula.
   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was also traveling to the
   region Wednesday. He is to meet in Moscow with Russian President
   Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Thursday
   is to meet in Kyiv with Ukraine`s acting president and prime minister.
   President Putin`s moves to annex Crimea have angered the United States
   and European Union, which have declared the referendum illegal and
   imposed sanctions on Russia in response.
   U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania on
   Wednesday that Russia will face "increasing political and economic
   isolation" as long as it continues on what he called "its dark path."
   Biden is seeking to reassure eastern European countries - including the
   Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all of which are NATO
   members, of U.S. support for its allies in the region.
   NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during a speech in Washington
   Wednesday that the crisis in Crimea is "the most serious security
   crisis since the end of the Cold War."
   Mr. Putin told the Russian parliament Tuesday the Crimean peninsula has
   always been an "inalienable" part of Russia.
   Also Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was surprised
   and disappointed by what he called Mr. Putin`s interpretation of the
   facts.
   Kerry said Russia is on the wrong side of history and that when a
   region secedes from a country, it does it under the constitution - not
   at the butt of a gun.
   Russia has shown no signs of backing down. Foreign Minister Sergei
   Lavrov told Kerry by phone Tuesday that U.S. sanctions on Russia are
   unacceptable and will have consequences.
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   headquarters/1874828.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/prorussian-forces-seize-ukraine-navy-headquarters/1874828.html