UKRAINE: RUSSIA LAUNCHES 'ARMED INVASION' AS OBAMA WARNS MOSCOW OF 'COSTS' OF INTERVENTION..

Ukraine: Russia launches 'armed invasion' as Obama warns Moscow of 'costs' of intervention
Russian troops and gunmen in unmarked uniforms fan out across Crimea, seizing two airports in an apparent bid to assert dominance over the region. President Obama warns Russia there would be “costs for any military intervention.”

By Roland Oliphant in Simferopol,, David Blair in Kiev and Joanna Walters in New York

11:59PM GMT 28 Feb 2014

President Barack Obama plunged into the crisis in Ukraine last night, warning Russia there would be “costs for any military intervention” and that “any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would be deeply destabilising”.

Speaking in an unplanned appearance at the White House, President Obama warned Russia against threatening Ukraine’s territorial integrity via Crimea.

“Any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would be deeply destabilising, which is not in the interests of Ukraine, Russia or Europe. It would represent profound interference in the affairs of the Ukrainian people and a violation of international law,” President Obama said last night.

Soldiers patrol outside the Simferopol International Airport
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He warned that the situation remains in the region remains “very fluid”.

Earlier a Ukrainian official told a Crimean television channel that 13 planes had landed at a military air base near Simferopol in Crimea, carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops.

The country's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said: "I personally appeal to President Putin to immediately stop military provocation and to withdraw from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," describing Russian actions as "naked aggression".

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it had officially protested to Moscow over the "violation of Ukraine's air space" after at least 10 Russian helicopters crossed the border.

Russian troops and armour backed by gunmen in unmarked uniforms fanned out across Crimea yesterday morning, seizing two airports and other key installations in an apparent bid to assert Moscow's dominance over the region.

Despite "grave" warnings from America not to intervene, soldiers and unidentified armed men deployed on Crimea's main roads, and occupied key positions within ports and the region's main television station.

A soldier rests atop a Russian armored personnel carriers near the town of Bakhchisarai (AP)

Although no shots were fired and there were no reported injuries, Arsen Avakov, the new Ukrainian interior minister, said the sudden and unannounced Russian deployment amounted to a "military invasion and occupation" of his country's territory.

The Kremlin's confrontation with Ukraine's post-revolutionary government appeared to be entering a dangerous new phase as airspace over Crimea was closed to civilian flights. Simferopol International Airport, serving the regional capital, announced last night that all services from Kiev were suspended until at least 6.30pm today [SAT].

Under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Russia is bound to "refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine". The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, urged Russia to keep this promise, adding: "Intervention would be a grave mistake."

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said that America was watching to see if Russian military movements in Crimea "might be crossing a line in any way".

Mr Kerry said that his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had assured him that Moscow's forces were "not engaging in any violation of the sovereignty and do not intend to". Mr Kerry added: "There are enough tensions that it is important for everybody to be extremely careful not to inflame the situation."

In a day of dramatic developments, David Cameron spoke by phone to President Vladimir Putin to stress that "all countries should respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine". Britain and America are also signatories to the Budapest Memorandum. Downing Street said that Mr Putin had "agreed" with the Prime Minister.

President Barack Obama said in his short White House address last night that Russia would attract the condemnation of government around the world for its actions so soon after nations had gathered there for the Winter Olympics.

"The Ukrainian people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future," he said.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet maintains a garrison of 25,000 military personnel inside Crimea at a base in the Crimean port of Sebastopol, which Moscow leases from Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry confirmed yesterday that "armoured vehicles" from this base were moving within Crimea in order to protect what it called "fleet positions". The ministry added that Ukraine's government been given a "note" to this effect.

However, there had been no "bilateral consultations" because events in Crimea were the "result of recent internal political processes in Ukraine".

In Kiev, the defence and interior ministries both declined to comment. A spokesman for Ukraine's National Security Council said there was "no information" on whether this body had considered the situation in Crimea.

Meanwhile, Viktor Yanukovych, the deposed president, appeared in public for the first time since fleeing Kiev last Friday. Addressing a press conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, he described himself as the "elected president" of Ukraine and declared the "coup" against him had been "illegal".

Mr Yanukovych backed a vote in Crimea's regional parliament for a referendum on greater autonomy within Ukraine. "What is happening in Crimea is a natural reaction to the bandit revolution that has occurred in Kiev," he said.

However, Mr Yanukovych added: "I think in this situation any military action is inadmissible, and I am not asking for military assistance [from Russia]."

As he spoke, armed men had taken up positions at key installations across Crimea, where 58 per cent of the population are Russian-speakers, many of them also ethnic Russians.

Men in unmarked camouflage uniforms occupied the civilian airport at Simferopol and Belbek air force base in Sebastopol. At dawn, roadblocks appeared on the highway that connects the two cities. A Russian warship was reported to have blockaded the entrance to the bay at Balaklava, the where Ukraine's coastguard has its headquarters.

At least 20 men wearing the uniform of Russia's Black Sea Fleet were reported to have surrounded a Ukrainian customs post in Sebastopol. A serviceman who identified himself as a Black Sea Fleet officer told Reuters news agency that the aim was to avoid a "repeat of the Maidan", referring to the square in central Kiev which became the focus of the revolution.

Numerous roadblocks were reported on key arteries, including the vital E97 and E105 highways, which cross the narrow land bridge linking Crimea with mainland Ukraine.

The several dozen men patrolling the car park and forecourt of the Simferopol airport carried AK-74 assault rifles and PK 7.62mm machine guns, and refused to answer questions.

At first, they made no apparent attempt to interfere with the running of the airport, although flights were suspended later. They strolled up and down the car park, apparently for the benefit of television cameras.

Civilian volunteers were also present, wearing the orange and black St George's ribbon, a symbol of Russian military prowess that has been adopted by pro-Kremlin activists in Crimea.

"We are here for your safety," said one man, who described himself as a member of the "people's militia". He ordered journalists away from the restaurant the troops had occupied. "If you don't move away from this building, maybe someone will throw a grenade at you," he said. "It is an unpredictable situation and we want to make sure everything remains calm."

Another volunteer, who called himself Dmitry, said he was glad the soldiers were present because "we don't want a repeat of what happened in Kiev".

But Crimea's Tatar community has backed the revolution in Kiev and fiercely opposed the notion of separatism or joining Russia.

Stalin deported the Tatars to Central Asia in 1944 for allegedly helping the Nazis. Many returned to Crimea after the Soviet Union's fall, and they now comprise 13 per cent of the region's population.

"There is potential for panic: we've got children, families, people we care about and we're worried about what might happen," said Evelina Bornoseva, a Tatar housewife from Simferopol. "We have no other homeland. The Russians have Russia, the Germans have Germany, the Canadians have Canada. But we have nowhere else to go. And I think every country should help us."

Mrs Bornoseva, 38, added: "I'm Ukrainian. When I moved here, I took Ukrainian citizenship. And it's not right that all this is resolved by stripping us of our country again."

Samantha Power, United States ambassador to the United Nations, spoke of America's "grave concern" as the UN headquarters in New York after an emergency meeting of the Security Council behind closed doors on Friday afternoon.

"The Secretary General of the UN has dispatched an envoy to Ukraine. What we think is important is that there is a mission at a time when the crisis seems to be escalating rather than de-escalating," said Ms Power.

The UN Security Council met hastily on Friday at the request of Yuriy Sergeyev, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN.
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