Fresh confrontations raise tempers on ground in Crimea

[dipsydoodle]

KIEV/SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The mood darkened in Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday after overnight confrontations between Russian troops and besieged Ukrainian soldiers raised tensions on the ground in the biggest East-West face-off since the Cold War.

Pressure levels have increased markedly in the two days since the region's pro-Moscow leadership declared that it is now part of Russia and announced a March 16 referendum to confirm it.

President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory.

So far, Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula has remained bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance.

http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-standoff-intensifies-russia-says-sanctions-boomerang-021849044.html

[Benton D Struckcheon]

1. Hopefully no resistance continues,

as all that would do is give them an excuse to go beyond Crimea. Everyone knows Crimea's lost, have to worry about the rest now.

Also putting this out there from that article, because on DU you'd never know this from the biased crap that gets reported here:

Aksyonov, whose openly separatist Russian Unity political received just 4 percent of the vote in Crimea's last parliamentary election, declared himself provincial leader ten days ago after armed Russians seized the parliament building.

Crimean opposition parliamentarians say most lawmakers were barred from the besieged building, both for the vote that installed Aksyonov and the one a week later that declared Crimea part of Russia, and the results were falsified. Both votes took place behind closed doors.

Crimea has a narrow ethnic Russian majority, but it is far from clear that most residents want to be ruled from Moscow. When they were last asked in 1991, they voted for independence along with the rest of Ukraine. Western countries have dismissed the upcoming referendum as illegal and likely to be falsified.