Putin signs treaty to annex Crimea as Ukraine authorises use of force
* One killed in base attack, captain also injured * Assault by ‘unknown forces’ * Ukrainian PM calls shooting ‘war crime’ * Putin signs treaty for annexation * Ukraine says it does not recognise annexation treaty * UK halts military exports to Russia * Read the main points from Putin’s speech * Read the latest summary
Haroon Siddique in London and Alan Yuhas in New York theguardian.com, Tuesday 18 March 2014 18.01 EDT Jump to comments (4386)
VIDEO .. Vladimir Putin signs treaty for Russia to take Crimea from Ukraine
10.01pm GMT
Summary
We’re going to wrap our live coverage for the day with a summary of where things stand:
• Ukraine has authorized its military to use weapons in self-defense, reversing orders to refrain from firing on assailants.
• A Ukrainian serviceman was shot dead during the storming of a military base in Simferopol, Crimea, and a captain was injured by attackers described as “unknown forces, fully equipped”. Regional Ukrainian forces remain largely trapped and threatened by pro-Russian irregulars.
• Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Crimea, promising to protect all ethnic groups and criticizing what he called western aggression and hypocrisy. He said “Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.”
• Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of a “war crime”, saying the conflict had moved to a “military phase”. Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said Vladimir Putin is “personally responsible for this provocation”.
• The US, Germany and the European Council said they will not recognise the annexation of Crimea, as Nato condemned Russia’s “illegal” and “dangerous path”. Britain cancelled joint naval exercises and imposed sanctions and the White House warned it would be “ratcheting up the consequences to Russia”.
.. a Guardian update page .. heaps of timeline in there .. so for now it's a more Western orientated government in Kiev, with little representation of the more Russian friendly East Ukraine, yet the Kiev temporary government does know danger could lurk there .. so needs to spend money there .. think i read it's the GOP who are holding some of that money up ..
Oleksandr Panteleymonov, the acting head of Ukraine's state television stations, had his office in Kiev invaded by members of the Svoboda Party—a nationalist party whose presence in the country's new government has been a source of great controversy—on Tuesday. They proceeded to assault him and force him to write a resignation letter. The men included Igor Miroshnichenko, an elected member of the Ukrainian parliament. The BBC said .. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26653295 .. they were livid after Panteleymonov decided to broadcast a ceremony from the Kremlin.
“This assault on freedom of expression must be immediately investigated and those responsible must be prosecuted. Anything less will only open the door to further attacks against media professionals and activists," Heather McGill, the group's Ukraine researcher, said. "The acting Ukrainian authorities must waste no time in demonstrating that basic human rights are protected in Ukraine and that nobody will face discrimination because of their political views or ethnic origin."
"I would say it's far right, but it's not fascism," says Andreas Umland, an associate professor of political science at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, who studies far-right groups. "Their typical issues are homophobia, antiabortion, national glory, independence and so on."
He also said Svoboda's support has dropped significantly since the 2012 elections, according to polls. ]
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