Shots fired as Russian troops force their way into Ukrainian base in Crimea

[Revmitchell]

(Reuters) - Russian troops forced their way into a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea with armored vehicles, automatic fire and stun grenades on Saturday, injuring a Ukrainian serviceman and detaining the base's commander for talks.

A Reuters reporter said armored vehicles smashed through one of walls of the compound and that he heard bursts of gunfire and grenades.

Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, the commander of the base, said a Ukrainian serviceman had been injured and that he himself he was being taken away by the Russians for talks at an unspecified location.

Asked if he thought he would return safely, he said: "That remains to be seen. For now we are placing all our weapons in the base's storage."

Belbek was one of the last military facilities in Crimea still under Ukrainian control following Russia's armed takeover and subsequent annexation of the peninsula, which has a majority ethnic Russian population and is home to one of Russia's biggest naval bases.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...2L0BN20140322?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

But this is just a defensive effort on the part of Russia, meant to secure the freedoms and rights of ethnic Russians, right? There must have been ethnic Russians being held captive in the Ukrainian base. That must be it.

[/sarcasm]

 

[poncho]

"The Russian takeover of Crimea has been largely bloodless, though one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and two others wounded in a shooting in Simferopol earlier this week."

The Russian take take over of Crimea?

So this is what we're supposed to call it when the people of Crimea rejects the neo nazi take over of Ukraine and overwhelming vote to join the Russian federation?

Oh yeah that's right the international community only recognizes democracy when it advances the geopolitical agenda of Washington and the EU. Evidently democracy and self determination are only for those who are determined to join the EU.