The Crimea for the day

The BBC has an article by John Simpson about the latest in the Crimea:

Pro-Russian activists have taken control of the headquarters of the Ukrainian navy in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Ukrainian navy chief Serhiy Hayduk has been detained, and the Russian flag is flying over the compound. Many Ukrainian personnel have left the base.
Crimean leaders recently signed a treaty with Moscow absorbing the peninsula into Russia.
That followed a referendum approving the Crimea's split from the Ukraine, a vote that has been widely condemned. Crimean and Russian officials say the vote showed overwhelming public support for joining Russia, with 97% of voters in favor.
In modern times, Moscow has staged three major invasions: Hungary in November of 1956 and Czechoslovakia in August of 1968, when the Communist governments there began showing dangerously Western tendencies; and Afghanistan in December of 1979, when the pro-Communist regime was on the point of collapse. These were huge and brutal operations, involving large numbers of tanks, and sometimes great bloodshed.
The takeover of the Crimea has been completely different. This was an infiltration, not an invasion. And, unlike in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan, it was welcomed by a large proportion of the local population.
But the West and the Ukrainian government in Kiev say the hastily-organized referendum— boycotted by many of the Crimea's Ukrainian and Tatar minorities— was illegal and will not be recognized.
Russia's constitutional court has now approved the accession treaty and the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says there is no doubt that parliament will also give its full backing.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh and First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema travelled to the Crimea to try to defuse tensions, but were prevented from entering, Ukrainian media reported, citing ministers.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said the EU must send "a very clear warning" to Russia. He also said the G8 group should discuss whether to expel Russia "if further steps are taken".
Pro-Russian forces appear to have taken control of the Ukrainian base in Sevastopol— the port city which houses Russia's Black Sea fleet— without a shot being fired.
Around two hundred people, some armed, broke down the gates and went to negotiate with senior Ukrainian personnel. Kiev ordered its troops to stay in place, but a number of Ukrainian servicemen, at least one in tears, were seen leaving the base carrying their belongings. Others are still inside and refusing to surrender.
Several of the pro-Russians were armed, though there were no reports of shots being fired
The pro-Russian activists wandered around the navy building, reportedly removed Ukrainian symbols "There is nothing we could do against the crowd, nothing. Everything happened spontaneously," said Ukrainian captain Olexander Balanyuk. "There were many promises from the Russian side and our side that the base will not be stormed, that all issues will be resolved through political means, but as you see now, there was a takeover."
Pro-Russian forces member Viktor Melnikov said that "not a drop of blood has been spilled" and there was no violence, saying the Ukrainians were applauded as they left.
There were then reports that Serhiy Hayduk had been detained and taken from the base by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). "He was blocked and he had nowhere to go. He was forced out and he has been taken away," said Igor Yeskin, a representative of the Russian forces.
Ukraine's defense ministry reported a similar incident at its navy base in Novo-Ozyorne, in the western Crimea. Defense ministry spokesman Vladyslav Seleznev said on Facebook that a tractor had rammed the gates of the compound and blocked the entrance.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's army said a soldier had been killed in an attack on a base in Crimea's capital, Simferopol. Russia said one member of the pro-Russian "self-defense" force in the Crimea had also been killed. The reports could not be independently confirmed. Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned "the conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage".
The US and the EU are among those who have imposed sanctions on several officials from Russia and the Ukraine accused of involvement in Moscow's actions in the Crimea.
Brussels and the White House have said the sanctions will be expanded, but Moscow has warned this is "unacceptable and will not remain without consequences".
The Ukrainian crisis began in November of 2013 after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych ditched an EU association agreement in favor of stronger ties with Moscow.
He fled the Ukraine on 22 February 2014 after protests in which more than eighty people were killed.
Many in the Crimea, with its predominantly ethnic Russian population, opposed the new West-leaning government, and in late February 2014, pro-Russian forces effectively took control of the peninsula. Moscow denies the forces are Russian or are acting under its orders.
The Crimea's prime minister was replaced on 27 February 2014 by pro-Moscow Sergei Aksyonov, leader of the small Russian Unity party, who called the referendum. In an emotionally charged speech before he signed the treaty in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Crimea had "always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia".

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