Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament for permission to use the country's military in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.
Soldiers with their faces covered and wearing no insignia patrol the Crimean airport in Ukraine. (Susan Ormiston/CBC)
Putin said the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea.
"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.
He sent the request to the Russian legislature's upper house, which has to approve the motion, according to the constitution.
It was the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia.
Armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications centre in Crimea on Friday. Ukraine has accused Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" — a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis, and raised fears that Moscow is moving to intervene on the strategic peninsula where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea is mainly Russian-speaking.
Crimean's prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards in the region will answer only to his orders.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk opened a cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, by calling on Russia not to provoke discord in Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea.
"We call on the government and authorities of Russia to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine."
While Yatsenyuk demanded that Moscow stop its "provocative actions," he added his country is refusing to respond with force.
Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh on Saturday told a cabinet meeting that Russia began sending reinforcements on Friday "without warning or Ukraine's permission."
Tenyukh said 6,000 Russian troops have been sent to the peninsula, in violation of the law. He added Russia has about 80 military vehicles stationed in various areas of Crimea.
Russia is supposed to notify Ukraine of any troop movements outside the Black Sea Fleet naval base it maintains in Sevastopol under a lease agreement with Ukraine.
CBC correspondent Susan Ormiston is in Ukraine. Follow her reports on CBC News Network during the day and each night on CBC's The National. You can follow her on Twitter @Ormistononline
Russian forces on Saturday attempted to penetrate a marine battalion in the Crimean city of Feodosiya, Tenyukh said.
The apparent troop mobilization is the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russian influence.
CBC News correspondent Susan Ormiston is in Sevastopol, on the southern edge of Crimea, not far from where Russia has operated a Black Sea naval base for decades.
"We're now seeing Russian troops in other parts of Crimea, armoured personnel carriers, as well as attack helicopters," Ormiston said.
She reported seeing as many as 12 Russian trucks at a time, carrying troops, and that some of the vehicles were blocking the entrance to the Ukrainian coast guard base in Balaklava, a small coastal town near Sevastopol.
In another development, the newly installed leader of Ukraine's Crimea region declared himself in charge of local military and law enforcement on Saturday.
Sergei Aksyonov said the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards in the region will answer only to his orders.
Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea is mainly Russian-speaking.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague says he has been in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Hague says he called for a de-escalation of military involvement in Crimea and respect for Ukrainian sovereignty.
On Friday, the White House told the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper that said U.S. officials are consulting with European leaders on the possibility of pulling out of the G8 summit in Russia this June.
Back in Moscow, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said Saturday that Russia could deploy additional troops to Crimea to help protect the local population from the new Ukrainian authorities.
Map: A divided Ukraine
European loyalties run highest in the Ukrainian-speaking west of the country, while the eastern half generally falls more into the Russian orbit. Hover over the red and blue dots to learn more about specific flashpoints in the conflict.
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