BALTIMORE, Maryland March 3, 2014 {2:16 pm EST} - Whether this is a high stakes game of "chicken" or an international battle for world sympathy, the fact is, in the Crimea, Russia and Ukraine are positioned nose-to-nose, and a lot of soldiers are praying that no glory-seeking fool tries to light the flame that starts a war. Two of Ukraine's very limited number of battleships have been warned by the massive Russian Navy to surrender by 5 pm on Tuesday or face military attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow and the Russian Naval Base at Sevastopol vehemently deny that any ultimatum or threat has been sounded. The Kiev Post reported Monday that the two Ukrainian ships, the Ternopil and Slavutych, are anchored in Sevastopol Bay, a tributary of the Black Sea. Reports say that, among other things, the Russian Navy has blockaded the nattow strait leading out of the bay. The surrender warning was given to the two ships by Russian Sailors aboard smaller vessels that are circling them and using bull horns. Other reports indicate that the deadline is actually 5 am local time. Sailors on the two ships have confirmed the report of the ultimatum, the Post said. Ukraine says that the ships will not be surrendered, and troops in Ukrainian Installations surrounded by the Russian Army and also warned to surrender will not turn over their weapons. Elsewhere around the Crimean Peninsula, Ukrainian Troops have been directly warned by Russian Military Attaches to either surrender soon or face attack. The exact time that the ships and troops must surrender is not at all uniform. Some have been given deadlines as early as this evening (March 3, 2014) while for others, the deadline is as late as 5 pm on Tuesday. This is the first direct threat of attack that has come to the West's attention. The Kiev Post - a wonderful source of news about everything Ukraine - can be accessed here: http://www.kyivpost.com/
The Telegraph in London and The Voice of Russia, a pro-Russia radio outlet in Moscow with an on-line component, are reporting that Russia has denied issuing threats. Both sources quote an unnamed spokeman for the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the report of ultimatums is "nonsense," and, the spokesman added, "We are used to daily accusations of using force against our Ukrainian colleagues...Efforts to make us clash won't work."
A Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman said that the only troops currently in Crimea are attached to the Sevastopol Naval Base. Despite eyewitness accounts of a massive troop build-up, with many of the troops ferried from Russia by huge military helicopters, the spokesman denied a troop increase.
Pursuant to an earlier post on this blog, NATO will conduct an emergency meeting on the Ukraine crisis tomorrow in Brussels, Belgium. The EU, meeting today in Brussels, unanimously agreed to instruct Russia to return all troops currently deployed in the Crimea to return to their baracks or face economic and other sanctions. The 28-nation organization wants Russia to immediately "de-escalate" the tense Crimean situation. It did not, today, set a deadline for the troops to return to baracks, or list the sanctions Russia will face, but the foreign ministers of the 28 nations will meet again Thursday and could take further actions at that time.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote yesterday that Russia does not want to deal with the current leades of Ukraine, who were installed only last week after the previous president, Viktor Yanukovich, abdicated. According to Medvedev, Russia intends to lead a new revolution in Ukraine, leading to another set of new leaders. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has called the current "new" leaders a group of "ultranationalists." Left unsaid by Putin, but obvious to anyone following the crises, is Putin's determination to have pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine, instead of pro-EU leaders such as the current group. Yanukovich had fled Kiev last week after signing an agreement with representatives of the Euromaidan Movement, tens of thousands of whom had demonstrated daily in Kiev for several months. Only days before the abdication, police had opened fire on the demonstators, leaving at least 80 people dead. The Ukrainian Parliament issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovich, saying that he was the person who gave the orders to open fire on the demonstrators.
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