THE EVE OF DISASTER 2014 ? LIKE 1914

 

 

Preparing for war: Russia mobilizes 150,000 troops as well as 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 ships to 'check' readiness for action

Vladimir Putin mobilized more than 150,000 troops and an armada of ships yesterday for a drill to test the combat readiness of forces in western Russia as tensions over Ukraine continue to grow. In addition to the soldiers – nearly twice the British Army’s manpower after planned cuts – 880 tanks, 210 aircraft and 80 warships will take part in the operation. The manoeuvres raised fears that the Russian president may be planning to send forces into Ukraine after the toppling of its Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych. Scroll down for video +31 +31 Violence: Protesters clashed in Simferopol, Ukraine (left) as Vladimir Putin (right) mobilised troops in Russia +31 The might of the Red Army: Just a fifth of Russia's forces are considerably bigger than Britain's whole arsenal +31 Clashes: Fist fights broke out today between pro- and anti-Russian protesters in the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine. In response Russia has reportedly ordered an immediate test of 150,000 troops +31 Punch-up: Muslim Tatars, who rallied in support of Ukraine's interim government, clash with a police officer in front of a local government building in Simferopol, Crimea. They came up against pro-Russian protesters +31 Injuries: A pro-Russian demonstrator is taken away by medics after the scuffles in Simferopol, Ukraine Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said unspecified measures were also being taken to protect the country’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea, southern Ukraine. He claimed the operation was not linked to the crisis in Ukraine, insisting it was intended to ‘check the troops’ readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation’s military security’. The drill comes 48 hours after Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said the country’s interests and citizens in Ukraine were under threat in language that echoed his statements justifying Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 when he was president. The US and EU nations have warned Russia against military intervention in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that Mr Putin wants to be part of a Eurasian union he is creating. The crisis began three months ago after Mr Yanukovych ditched closer ties with the EU in favour of Mr Putin’s scheme. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, who is overseeing the reduction of the Army to around half the size of the Russian mobilisation, said yesterday: ‘We will obviously want to take proper cognizance of any activities by Russian forces. We urge all parties to allow the Ukrainian people to settle internal differences and determine their future without external interference.’ He was speaking as Nato defence ministers, meeting in Brussels, issued a statement ahead of a two-day summit supporting Ukrainian sovereignty and independence. US secretary of state John Kerry said Russia should respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and be ‘very careful’ in its behaviour. Rival protesters wounded in Crimea scuffles +31 Trampled: A man receives help after he was injured in a stampede during clashes in Crimea, Ukraine +31 Tension: Several people were injured as east-west tensions flared in Crimea, which is vital to the Russian Navy +31 Clash: Pro-Russian protesters (left) stand opposite Crimean Tartars, who support the new regime in Ukraine +31 Crimea is strategically vital to Vladimir Putin's Russia because it juts into the Black Sea. Pictured: Tartars +31 Dressed for war: A pro-Russian demonstrator holds the Russian flag during the protests in Ukraine +31 More violence broke out today between pro-Russian demonstrators and supporters of the new government in the eastern peninsula of Crimea In a TV interview, he added: ‘What we need now to do is not get into an old Cold War confrontation.’ Mr Shoigu said the Russian tests will be conducted in two stages. At first, military units will be brought to ‘the highest degree of combat readiness’ and deployed to land and sea positions. The second stage will include tactical exercises involving warships from the northern and Baltic fleets, while some warplanes will move to combat airfields. Mr Shoigu said the forces must ‘be ready to bomb unfamiliar testing grounds’. The change of government in Kiev has raised questions over the future of Russia’s naval bases in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the lease for which was extended until 2042 by Mr Yanukovych. Most observers believe the new leadership will not push for the withdrawal of the Russian fleet, as this could create further tensions. Yesterday, thousands of protesters took part in rival rallies in Crimea’s administrative capital Simferopol ahead of a planned session of the region’s parliament. Fights broke out between pro-Russians and more than 10,000 Muslim Tatars who rallied in support of the interim government, chanting: ‘Ukraine is not Russia!’ +31 Blows were exchanged by groups arguing over the future of their country as Putin readies his troops +31 Pro-Russian activists have clashed with demonstrators backing Ukraine's new government in Crimea +31 Ukraine could divide into two separate countries as the West seeks new leadership and closer ties with Europe, while the East affiliates itself with Russia +31 Waiting for history: 500 miles removed from the clashes in Crimea, tens of thousands of people waited in Kiev's Independence Square to hear former economy minister Arseny Yatseniuk nominated as their new leader +31 Shift: The new Ukranian cabinet (announced in Kiev, pictured) will be pro-Western after months of protests which demanded the government prevent itself sliding under the grip of Russian influence. Tensions remain +31 Protest: Ukrainians in Kiev last night as a new government was announced after months of violence +31 Tribute: Citizens lay flowers and candles where protesters were killed in a clash with riot police in Kiev The tensions in Crimea highlight the divisions that run through the nation of 46million, and underscore fears that the country’s mainly Russian-speaking east and south will not recognize the interim authority’s legitimacy. Ethnic Ukrainians loyal to Kiev have joined the Tatars in an alliance to oppose any move back towards Moscow. Ukraine’s interim president Oleksandr Turchinov has expressed concern about the ‘serious threat’ of separatism following the ousting of Mr Yanukovych, who was last night put on the international wanted list, accused of being behind the killing of more than 100 protesters by riot police last week. Russia has portrayed the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych, whose whereabouts are unknown after he fled on Thursday, as a violent seizure of power, while many EU countries back the regime change. Pro-Ukraine protest groups last night named their proposed cabinet for the interim government. MPs were expected to vote on the nominations today. Pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters at Crimean parliament +31 Russian flags can be seen in the background as demonstrators clash with those carrying the Ukrainian and Tartar flag in the foreground +31 The news of further clashes underscores the difficulties facing Ukraine as the pro-European West divides from the Russian East +31 Yesterday Crimean citizens cheered as riot police from the pro-Russian Berkut brigade fled there, while in the West other were forced to knee on a stage and beg for forgiveness +31 During a meeting in Kiev today, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was seen for the first time without her wheelchair as she shook hands with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns The 'Euromaidan' council of protest leaders made its announcement of Yatseniuk, plus candidates for several other key ministers, after its members addressed crowds on Kiev's Independence Square. Oleksander Turchinov said the new government would have to take unpopular decisions to head off defaulting on its debts and to guarantee a normal life for Ukraine's people. The Euromaidan's proposals have yet to be approved by parliament. The council also named career diplomat Andriy Deshchytsya as foreign minister. Oleksander Shlapak, a former economy minister and former deputy head of the central bank, was named as finance minister. Andriy Paruby, head of the 'self-defence' force protecting the Kiev protest zone from police action during the three months of conflict, was named secretary of the powerful National Security and Defence Council. +31 Crimean Tartars were expelled from their homes by Russia during the Second World War and so have a history of bad feeling towards the Kremlin +31 However Crimea has very close ties with Russia and houses the nation's Black Sea Fleet +31 Police had attempted to keep the two group apart but they were unable to stop the fighting +31 Earlier today, John Kerry and William Hague urged Ukraine to stay unified while asking Russia to allow the country to make its own choices about its future +31 There are fears within the international community that Russian president Putin (pictured here with former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych) could send troops to the country in an attempt to quash the uprising +31 Crimean Tartars have an historic grudge with Russia, so support the new revolution sweeping the nation +31 John Kerry also urged Russia and other nations to ensure the revolution was '100 per cent' peaceful from now on after nearly 100 people died in clashes AFTER SNIPERS AND PETROL BOMBS, THE NEW THREAT TO THE PEOPLE UKRAINE IS FINANCIAL COLLAPSE +31 Ukraine has just emerged from a bloody revolution, but its problem have only just begun As tensions flare between the East and West of Ukraine, and politicians scramble to from a government, a new threat to Ukraine's future has emerged. The country faces financial collapse as international loans dry up. The interim president Olexander Turchynov has appealed for £20billion from foreign nations in order to stop the country going bankrupt. And now concerned citizens are withdrawing money from their bank accounts en masse, worried that they will lose everything if the nation goes bust. In just two days from February 18, around £1.8bn was withdrawn from bank accounts across the country. After an agreement to sign a deal introducing a new interim government withdrawals slowed down in the West, but remain high in the East where tensions over Russia's relationship with the country remain high. The interim government is now considering measure to limit cash withdrawals to stop the banks going into meltdown. Speaking to Bloomberg, Lilit Gevorgyan, senior economist at IHS Global Insight in London, said: 'Ukraine’s economy needs rescue and that adds pressure on the revolutionary political forces to create a truly national unity government. 'The large bailout plan that Ukraine currently seeks won’t be handed out by international donors to a weak and non-inclusive government.'   Ukraine's new leader has made a desperate plea for unity as experts warn Russia might annex the increasingly tense region of Crimea. Interim president Olexander Turchynov warned of the dangers of separatism following the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych. It came as UK and US foreign ministers met to discuss emergency financial assistance for the country. Addressing the country's parliament, Mr Turchynov said he would meet law enforcement agencies to discuss the risk of separatism in regions with large ethnic Russian populations. Separatism was a 'serious threat', he said. +23 Plea: Interim President Olexander Turchynov warned of the dangers of separatism in the Ukrainian parliament today +23 Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, chaired a security council meeting in the Kremlin today, attended by among others the foreign secretary, Sergey Lavrov (second from left). Its conclusions were not made public but tensions between Moscow and Kiev have mounted amid claims of Russian involvement in the killings of protesters whose demonstrations led to the removal of Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Moscow. +23 Political heavyweight: Ukrainian opposition leader and head of the UDAR (Punch) party Vitaly Klitschko has revealed he will run for the presidentcy Mr Turchynov was speaking as tensions mounted between Kiev and Moscow in the wake of former president Vyktor Yanukoych being removed from power and fleeing the Ukrainian capital. In the latest escalation, Ukraine's parliament called for the former president to be put in front of the International Criminal Court at the Hague for 'human rights abuses', including ordering the deaths of protesters in Kiev who eventually prompted him to flee and be deposed. One MP claimed there was a 'smoking gun' which linked the deaths of the protesters directly to the Kremlin, with a former Russian intelligence officer helping direct operations which lead to the death of more than 80 demonstrators. The MP, Hennadiy Moskal, a former deputy interior minister, said he had found the evidence at the interior ministry and in files at the SBU, the secret police in the country. 'The Interior Ministry and the SBU were assisted in the preparations for these special operations by the former deputy head of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate who lived in the Kiev hotel (his accommodation and meals were paid for by the SBU)," said Moskal. "All the information regarding this Russian will be handed over to the PGO, [the Hague court's prosecutor general's office] and the investigation will reveal the extent of his guilt." The suggestion of Russian involvement in the deaths will only increase tensions - particularly over the Crimea, the majority-Russian area where the Kremlin's Black Sea naval fleet is based, and where it is thought Yanukoych is in hiding. In Sevastapol, the home port of the Russian fleet, the local mayor was forced to quit after removing a Russian flag, and replaced by Aleksei Chaliy, a pro-Moscow politician after a meeting at which people shouted 'Russia, Russia' and: 'A Russian mayor for a Russian city.' There are widespread fears in Ukraine that Russia will move to annex the Crimea, which was added to the then Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1954 and where Ukrainians are in a minority. Leonid Slutsky, a senior member of the Moscow parliament used a visit to the Crimea to say that Russia will protect its compatriots there if their lives are in danger. Slutsky, speaking at a meeting with local activists, did not detail what that might involve, but a former Kremlin advisor warned a Russian annexation of Sebastopol could happen within a week. Likening the situation to Nazi Germany’s takeover of Austria, Andrey Illarionov said a furious Russian president Vladimir Putin is sweeping aside Western warnings and putting troops on alert. +23 A Russian flag is seen flying outside the state and city administration building in the Crimean city of Sevastopol +23 Ukrainian sailors march at the memorial to heroic defenders of Sevastopol in 1941-1942, in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol +23 Unrest: Dozens of demonstrators calling for closer ties with Russia in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol RUSSIA EVOKES WORLD WAR TWO IN UKRAINE MEDIA BLITZ 'Which side were you on in World War Two?' is not a question that often arises on radio talk shows but a Russian caller named Alexander was asked precisely that at least three times today when he expressed support for Ukraine's new rulers. The judgment was quick. Two Russian presenters decided Alexander must have been on the side of the fascists who fought Soviet forces during the war because he refused to condemn the new Ukrainian leadership. +23 'Do you know how many Russians Bandera killed?' asked the outspoken host of the morning phone-in, Vladimir Solovyov - a reference to Stepan Bandera, leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement that was built in western Ukraine and is accused by Russians of siding with the Nazis. On Russian television, weeks of footage of wounded policemen and burning tyres have given way to sober pictures of politicians and Ukrainians predicting Ukraine will split after opposition forces took control in Kiev and the president fled. In a sign the Kremlin is shaken by losing a struggle for influence with the West in its neighbour, the language has been set against the us-or-them background of the Soviet victory against Adolf Hitler - a source of national pride. The people of western Ukraine - culturally and linguistically distinct from the Russian speaking east - have borne the brunt of the blame. It was these men and women that Alexander was trying to defend. He was cut off when Solovyov said he should leave his address and phone number so the police could find him and arrest him for promoting fascism. It came amid unconfirmed claims that ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was under Russian military guard in Sebastopol, after a warrant was issued for his arrest for 'mass murder'. And ominously, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev warned it did not recognise the authorities which came to power in Kiev’s weekend revolution in which 82 people died. He said: 'We do not understand what is going on there. There is a real threat to our interests and to the lives of our citizens.' Kiev believes Russian president Vladimir Putin - enraged by the ousting of Moscow-backed Yanukovych - is already putting armed forces on alert. Former Kremlin economics advisor Andrey Illarionov warned that a furious Putin is sweeping aside Western warnings and preparing a 'Russian Anschluss of Sevastopol which is due to happen in a week, maximum three weeks.' Illarionov previously warned about plans being hatched in Moscow to seek a partition of Ukraine. He said at the beginning of this month that Kremlin thinking had coalesced around 'getting control of Crimea, Lugansk and maybe part of Sumy region, in other words of the places where Russian popularity dominates.' Illarionov predicted three weeks ago: 'It is known that Putin does not consider Ukraine to be a state. 'Many in the Kremlin are calling it sub-state. From their point of view, Ukraine will never again be so weak in front of Russia. 'And Russia will never again be so strong, as it is today. And the West - the EU and USA - will never be so indifferent to Ukrainian crisis as they are today.’ Putin has previously cited a duty to protect the lives of its citizens as justification for military intervention in Georgia in 2008. The reaction of Putin, who has so far been silent on the issue, is seen as crucial to how the situation will develop. Today, he attended a Security Council meeting in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow that focused on the situation in Ukraine. William Hague is also due to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the ongoing situation in Ukraine. And NATO defence ministers will meet a delegation from Ukraine on Thursday to discuss their response, a NATO official said. Russia has already been warned by Nato not to use its troops in Crimea, or bring in others to intervene in its neighbour's domestic upheaval. The last week's developments in Ukraine are to be discussed at a meeting of Nato defence ministers, which starts tomorrow in Brussels. Ukraine has longstanding ties with the military alliance under the NATO-Ukraine Commission and is a contributor to U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. A NATO official, who asked not to be named, said that the commission will meet on the second day of a NATO defence ministers gathering. 'Ministers agreed to a Ukrainian request for a meeting,' the official said. 'It will be an exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine and relations between NATO and Ukraine.' +23 Maidan self-defence activists stand guard at the Ukraine parliament during the session in Kiev +23 KIEV, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 25: Protesters guard the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev, Ukraine. Ukraine's interim President Olexander Turchynov is due to form a unity government, as UK and U.S. foreign ministers meet to discuss emergency financial assistance for the country +23 Mob justice: Anti-Yanukovych protesters detain a suspected thief in Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest +23 Members of 'self defence' units march to the parliament building in Kiev +23 Anti-Yanukovych protesters protect the main doors of the central Post Office occupied by demonstrators in Kiev's Independence Square +23 An opposition protester protects the entrance of a shop occupied by demonstrators still camped out on Kiev's Independence Square +23 Flowers are left at a makeshift memorial at barricades near the Dynamo Kiev stadium in central Kiev +23 Former Prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko (right) welcomes to the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton prior their talks in Kiev today InUkraine itself, champion boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko said he would run in a planned election. Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has already confirmed she will stand. She met Baroness Ashton, the European Union's foreign affairs representative today, although questions remain over her record as prime minister, a time which was tainted with corruption. And also in Ukraine Andriy Klyuev, a former presidential aide who is said by the new Ukrainian authorities to be on the run with Yanukovich, has been shot in the leg, his spokesman said. Spokesman Artem Petrenko said a 'trusted source' had told him that Klyuev, the head of the presidential administration until Yanukovich was toppled on Saturday, had come under fire twice and was wounded, but his life was not in danger. Petrenko said by telephone that he had not spoken to Klyuev himself and he did not know where Klyuev was. He also said he did not know whether Klyuev was with Yanukovich, who fled Kiev on Friday and is wanted by the Ukrainian authorities to face accusations of murder. Ukraine's parliament voted today to send Yanukovich to be tried for 'serious crimes' by the International Criminal Court once he has been captured. A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovich to police violence against protesters which had caused the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states and injured 2,000. +23 Relationship: Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych winks at Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting last year. Yanukovych is said to be under Russian military guard after he was ousted from power +23 Armed presence: Ukrainian sailors march in the Black Sea port of Sebastopol. Ousted President Yanukovych is said to be under Russian Military Guard in the area +23 Political crisis: Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev warned it did not recognise the authorities which came to power in Kiev RUSSIA'S BLACK SEA FIREPOWER Russia's Black Sea fleet was founded by Prince Potemkin, together with its principal base, the city of Sevastopol, in 1783 to counter the threat from the Ottoman Empire. Today, the fleet employs more than 25,000 people in Sevastopol and has widespread support among locals. From 1783 to the present day it has been home to 1,468 warships, including: - 6 Dreadnoughts - 10 Battleships - 26 Cruisers - 15 Large ASW Destroyers - 3 Leaders - 85 Destroyers - 45 Frigates - 134 Submarines The Ukrainian parliamentalso  delayed the formation of a new government, reflecting political tensions and economic challenges following the ousting of the Russia-backed president. Parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov, who was named Ukraine's interim leader after Yanukovych fled the capital, said that a new government should be in place by Thursday, instead of Tuesday, as he had earlier indicated. Turchinov is now nominally in charge - but the country of 46 million has an ailing economy and faces the risk of default. Mr Hague and Mr Kerry are to talk about an aid package to keep it from imminent collapse. Law enforcement agencies have issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych over the killing of 82 people, mainly protesters - the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history - that precipitated him fleeing the capital on Friday after signing a deal with opposition leaders to end months of violent clashes between protesters and police. For months, thousands of people have been protesting against Yanukovych's decision to ditch an agreement for closer ties with the European Union and turn to Russia instead. +23 Major power: Russia's Black Sea Fleet warships at its base in Sevastopol in Ukraine +23 Sailors check a missile launcher aboard Russian cruiser Admiral Golovko in Sevastopol +23 The Zaporizhia diesel submarine is seen after it was launched at Sevastopol, Ukraine. This was the only sub Ukraine got after it divided the former Soviet Black Sea fleet with Russia The parliament sacked some of Yanukovych's lieutenants and named their replacement, but it has yet to appoint the new premier and fill all remaining government posts. Yanukovych's whereabouts are unknown. He was last reportedly seen in the Crimea, a pro-Russia area. Protesters, meanwhile, removed a Soviet star from the top of the Ukrainian parliament building, the Verkhovna Rada. 'The star on top of the Verkhovna Rada is no longer there,' said Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the nationalist Svoboda party, which has been a strong force in the protest movement. A REGION WORTH FIGHTING FOR? WHY RUSSIA COVETS THE CRIMEA +23 Flashpoint: A picture of soldiers during the Crimean War, circa 1855 Crimea is a region synonymous with military glory for Russians, imperial and Soviet. Catherine the Great first annexed the region in 1783 after defeating the Ottoman Turks and built a naval base and the city Sevastopol. The Russian Black Sea fleet has been there ever since. What Crimea is best remembered for in the West is the Crimean War of the 1850s. The conflict was initially between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire but drew in Britain and France. It ended with the Treaty of London of 1856. The region only became part of Ukraine in 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was himself Ukrainian-born, signed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from Russia. Pro-Kremlin campaigners call this a 'historical accident'. Ethnic, cultural and religious ties are also very Russian, leading some pro-Kremlin Crimeans to freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation. Currently, there are two million ethnic Russians who live on the peninsula, making up almost 60 per cent of the population. Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars – the peninsula's original Turkic-speaking Muslim inhabitants – account for the rest. But it has not always been that way. By 1900 Crimean Tatars, previously the major population, had been reduced to half of residents. After the Soviet revolution they were reduced to a quarter. +23 The Crimea has remained a stable feature of geopolitics for over a century and a half Then Stalin forcibly deported many of them to Central Asia and replaced them with Slavs from Russia or Russian-influenced parts of eastern Ukraine. As a result Crimea was largely 'russified' over the two centuries after its incorporation into the Russian Empire and its indigenous Muslim population swamped or displaced. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Tatars remained or have returned, but they are still a minority numbering about 15 per cent of the population. They reject the notion of union with Russia and are loyal to Kiev – another volatile element in an already combustible ethnic mix. Most of Stalin's newcomers were from poor urban backgrounds; they moved into homes vacated by deportees and had weak ties with Ukraine. They freely admit they would like Crimea to join the Russian Federation. 'It's a myth that Ukraine is not part of Russia. We don't believe it,' Oleg Rodilov, a pro-Russian MP in Crimea's autonomous parliament said in 2008. It would be wrong to accuse him of 'separatism', he added. 'For you, Ukraine and Russia are a priori different states. For us they are a priori the same,' he said. The links of culture, language and Orthodox religion made Ukraine and Russia an indivisible entity, he said. Also, both countries were Slavic, he said. 'We don't believe there is any difference. We have been together for 350 years.' Ukraine's recent civil conflict has fanned this tension in Crimea. Could American and Russian combat dolphins - who have already defected from the Ukraine - clash in the Black Sea over the Crimea crisis? American underwater mammals will be deployed in NATO exercises The sea has become a tense focal point for Russian and Western navies Ukrainian navy's dolphins based in Sevastopol switched sides to Russia Training mammals for naval operations began in the Cold War The tensions over Ukraine could lead to specially trained 'military dolphins' from the Russian and US navies competing in underwater action for the first time, it has been reported. Newspaper Izvestia claimed that American underwater mammals will be deployed in NATO exercises in the Black Sea this summer. The sea has become a tense focal point for Russian and Western navies amid the current crisis in Ukraine. Scroll down for video +10 Training mammals for naval operations including spying and mining of enemy ships began in the Cold War Recently a low-flying Russian air force plane buzzed a U.S. warship sent to patrol here. The Ukrainian navy's warfare dolphins based in Sevastopol abruptly switched sides to Russia recently after Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea. Training mammals for naval operations for spying on and mining of enemy ships began in the Cold War by both the U.S. and the USSR. 'It may so happen that American and Russian military dolphins will meet in the open sea for the first time,' wrote Izvestia. The US Navy use dolphins to help detect mines in the water +10 Loyal: The army has been using the underwater mammals since the 70s, and they remained under Ukrainian command after the collapse of the Soviet Union 'It is known that such dolphins are trained only in Russia and the USA.' The newspaper cited Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the US Navy's marine mammals programme, as revealing that deployment of dolphins and sea lions was a first for NATO. An ITAR TASS report evidently quoting LaPuzza stated that in the Black Sea the U.S. dolphins would test a new anti-radar which is designed to 'disorientate enemy sonars while sea lions would look for mines and naval divers'. The U.S. is known to have trained dolphins and sea lions to identify intruders swimming in restricted areas, and the retrieve equipment lost at sea. It is understood some $14million (USD) is spent annually training the underwater mammals. They are also seen as skilled mine-finders by their military trainers. +10 In action: One of the 'spy dolphins' is being moved from a pool into the sea, pictured in 1990, before the fall of the USSR The American Navy Marine Mammal Program found that dolphin sonar, known as echolocation, 'makes them uniquely effective at locating sea mines so they can be avoided and removed', according to one account. After finding the mine, the dolphins signal the discovery to its crew by poking a ball with its nose. It then is given a buoy line or acoustic transponder to mark the spot. America also trains 'attack sea lions' to detect and snare enemy divers. They are taught to attach spring loaded clamps to frogmen who are they pulled backwards through the water by the mammals' naval handlers on a vessel. +10 Part of the team: A military dolphin with two divers in this undated Russian military photo 'It's difficult to put up effective resistance when you're being dragged backwards through the water,' LaPuzza has previously stated.  Between 1986 and 1988 the U.S. Navy, which now has a fleet of at least 75 mine hunting dophins, deployed six on duties in the Persian Gulf. One, called Skippy, died of bacterial infection. Earlier, they were deployed in the Vietnam War. Uniquely, the U.S. has trained Beluga whales for deepwater operations. Izvestia reported that the U.S. mammals would be flown in to Ukraine on planes equipped with special baths when the creatures are constantly watered. U.S. Air Force pictures show how they were transported to New Caledonia in 2009 for exercises off Australia. LaPuzza was quoted denying that the American sea animals are trained to attack people. +10 Search and rescue: Dolphins were sent on bomb missions when the army did not want to risk the life of a diver 'On the contrary, as part of the training programme, they learn to save people. Their main activities are finding mines and divers.' The Russian bottlenose dolphins - until recently under Ukrainian command - are trained to hunt for mines, plant bombs on hostile ships or attack enemy divers with special knives or pistols fixed to their heads. The use of dolphins as naval assets was begun during the Cold War in Sevastopol by the Soviet Union in 1973. With the collapse of the USSR, they were enlisted in the Ukrainian navy which last month lost its headquarters in Sevastopol after Russia's audacious land grab in Crimea. +10 How to: A dolphin model is wearing some of the specially designed kit in a military museum The combat dolphins are now back under Kremlin control along with all 193 military units in the region. 'The military dolphins serving in Crimea will be transferred to the Russian Navy,' reported state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti at the time. It was also disclosed Russia would invest more in the combat dolphin training programme. 'Engineers are developing new equipment for new programmes so that the dolphins can be used more effectively in underwater operations,' said a source. +10 U.S. Air Force pictures show how they were transported to New Caledonia in 2009 for exercises off Australia 'Our specialists have been working on new equipment that transform the dolphin's sonar signal at the point of detecting a submarine into a signal on the operator's screen. 'But the Ukrainian Fleet didn't have enough money to develop such know how and some projects had to be closed.' While the dolphins show extraordinary intelligence, sometimes they disobeyed their Ukrainian commanders. +10 Airmen, sailors and contractors unload dolphins assigned to the Navy Marine Mammals Program in California +10 U.S. Air Force pictures show how they were transported to New Caledonia in 2009 for exercises off Australia +10 Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Aaron Nutt gets the attention of his dolphin while aboard a C-17 Globemaster III from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii in 2009 Last year three of five spy dolphins went absent without leave in the Black Sea - apparently in search of love, but returned to their duties shortly afterwards. Yury Plyachenko, a former Soviet naval anti-sabotage officer, explained that this was something that had to be taken into account in working with the 007 mammals. 'If a male dolphin saw a female dolphin during the mating season, then he would immediately set off after her. But they come back in a week or so.'

The agreement sees signatories promise to protect Ukraine's borders It was signed by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma in 1994 Ukrainian parliament has now reached out directly to all the countries who signed the treaty Putin currently has 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders and it is reported some have crossed into the country President Obama says he is 'deeply concerned' by the news The US and Britain have both made 'crisis calls' to President Putin to warn him to respect territorial boundaries A treaty signed in 1994 by the US and Britain could pull both countries into a war to protect Ukraine if President Putin's troops cross into the country. Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine - agreed to the The Budapest Memorandum as part of the denuclearization of former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Technically it means that if Russia has invaded Ukraine then it would be difficult for the US and Britain to avoid going to war. The revelation comes as reports suggest the Kremlin was moving up to 2,000 troops across the Black Sea from Novorossiysk to their fleet base at Sevastopol. At least 20 men wearing the uniform of the Russian fleet and carrying automatic rifles surrounded a Ukrainian border guard post in a standoff near the port yesterday. Scroll down for video +11 The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1991 by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma - the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine. It promises to protect Ukraine's borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons Last night it was still unclear the exact scale of Russian boots on the ground in Crimea or the identity of gunmen who have taken over airports in Simferopol and Sevastopol – though reports suggest they are Russian marines or Moscow- controlled militias. The action came as President Obama delivered blunt warnings to Moscow. 'We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,' he told reporters at the White House. 'Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing,' he said in a brief appearance. 'The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.' U.S. officials also said the President could scrap plans to attend an international summit in Russia and take negotiations on deepening trade ties with the country off the table in response to Russian involvement in the Ukraine. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel added: "This could be a very dangerous situation if this continues in a provocative way." Asked about options in a CBS News interview, he said that "We're trying to deal with a diplomatic focus, that's the appropriate, responsible approach." Both the U.S. and the UK are advising against all non-essential trips to Ukraine - especially Crimea. +11 former British Ambassador to Moscow Sir Tony Brenton, who served as British Ambassador from 2004 to 2008, said in an interview that war could be an option 'if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding.' NATO also asked Russia not to take action that could escalate tension. However Moscow responded by telling the organization to 'refrain' from provocative statements on Ukraine and respect its 'non-bloc' status. Sir Tony Brenton, who served as British Ambassador from 2004 to 2008, said that war could be an option 'if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding.' It promises to protect Ukraine's borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. Kiev has demanded the agreement is activated after insisting their borders had been violated. In response Mr Brenton said in a BBC radio interview: 'If indeed this is a Russian invasion of Crimea and if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding then it's very difficult to avoid the conclusion that we're going to go to war with Russia'. Ukraine accused Russia of a 'military invasion and occupation', saying Russian troops have taken up positions around a coast guard base and two airports on its strategic Crimea peninsula. Russia kept silent on the accusations, as the crisis deepened between two of Europe's largest countries. Any Russian military incursion in Crimea would dramatically raise the stakes in Ukraine's conflict, which saw pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych flee last weekend after three months of anti-government protests. Yanukovych vowed Friday at a news conference in Russia to 'keep fighting for the future of Ukraine,' though he called any military action 'unacceptable.' Moscow has vowed to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Crimea, where it has a major naval base, and Ukraine and the West have warned Russia to stay away. Russia did not confirm its troops were involved in Friday's action in Crimea, which would be a major escalation. In Kiev, Ukraine's parliament adopted a resolution demanding that Russia halt steps it says are aimed against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on the crisis. THE BUDAPEST REFERENDUM Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was a international treaty signed on February, 5, 1994, in Budapest. The diplomatic document saw signatories make promises to each other as part of the denuclearization of former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was signed by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine. The agreement promises to protest Ukraine's borders in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. It is not a formal treaty, but rather, a diplomatic document. It was an unprecedented case in contemporary international life and international law. Whether is it legally binding in complex. 'It is binding in international law, but that doesn't mean it has any means of enforcement,' says Barry Kellman is a professor of law and director of the International Weapons Control Center at DePaul University's College of Law told Radio Free Europe. 'I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation,' Ukraine's newly named interior minister, Arsen Avakov, wrote in a Facebook post. The chief of Ukraine's security council, Andriy Parubiy, seemed to strike a less strident tone later in the day, saying gunmen had tried to 'seize' the airports in the Crimean cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol but insisting in comments to the Interfax news agency that 'de-facto the airports are controlled by the law enforcement bodies of Ukraine.' Ukraine's State Border Guard Service also said about 30 Russian marines from Russia's Black Sea Fleet - which is based in Sevastopol - had taken up position outside the Ukrainian Coast Guard base in the area. It said the marines said they were there to prevent any weapons at the base from being seized by extremists. Russia's defense ministry had no comment. Yanukovych made his first public appearance since fleeing Ukraine in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, not far from the Ukrainian border. It was the first confirmation that he had left the country, and he said he was 'forced' to do so only after his family received threats. 'I intend to keep fighting for the future of Ukraine,' he said. Yanukovych said he supports Crimea's residents who are worried about 'nationalists' in Kiev and added that Russia cannot stand by while events in Ukraine unfold. He denied, however, that this amounts to a call for military intervention. 'Any military action in this situation is unacceptable,' he said. +11 Tensions rising: A Russian soldier on an armoured personnel carrier halted on a road in Ukraine around 20 miles from Sebastapol, where there is a large Russian military presence US warns Russia: Stay out of the Ukraine +11 Armed Russian navy servicemen surround a Ukrainian border guard base in Balaclava, in the Crimea region +11 An armed Ukrainian border guard looks out of a window as the base is surrounded by armed Russian navy servicemen in Balaclava The prosecutor-general's office in Kiev said it would seek Yanukovych's extradition to Ukraine, where he is wanted on suspicion of mass murder in last week's violent clashes between protesters and police, during which over 80 people were killed. Associated Press journalists approaching the Sevastopol airport found the road leading up to it blocked by two military trucks and a handful of gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles. A car with Russian military plates was stopped at the roadblock. A man wearing a military uniform with a Russian flag on his sleeve got out of the car and was allowed to enter on foot after a brief discussion with the gunmen. The moment armed men storm Crimea government building At the airport serving Simferopol, commercial flights were landing and taking off despite dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings patrolling with assault rifles. They didn't stop or search people leaving or entering the airport, and refused to talk to journalists. One man who identified himself only as Vladimir said the men were part of the Crimean People's Brigade, which he described as a self-defense unit ensuring that no 'radicals and fascists' arrive from other parts of Ukraine. There was no way to verify his account. The airport deployments came a day after masked gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles seized the parliament and government offices in Simferopol and raised the Russian flag. Ukrainian police cordoned off the area but didn't confront the gunmen. They remained in control of the buildings Friday. The Russian foreign and defense ministries had no comment. Russia's state RIA Novosti and Interfax cited an unnamed official from the Russian Black Sea Fleet denying involvement, saying Russian servicemen stationed in Crimea have not moved into the airports and denying that the Russian military was in control there. Tensions between the two countries were high, however. Russia continued with massive combat readiness exercises involving most of its troops in western and southern Russia that it said were unrelated to the Ukraine conflict. The moves were reminiscent of Cold War brinksmanship. +11 Russian military forces are blockading an airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea, an act Ukraine's new interior minister has announced branded an 'armed invasion' +11 As events in the Crimea region heighten tensions with neighboring Russia, this morning armed men also took over the other main Crimean airport, Simferopol, according to a Facebook post by Mr Avakov +11 Dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings were seen patrolling the airport in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea +11 The move came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Ukraine's new prime minister that the U.S. welcomes the formation of the country's new government The Kremlin, in a statement published late Thursday, said President Vladimir Putin had instructed the government to 'maintain contacts with the counterparts in Kiev in what concerns trade and economic ties between Russia and Ukraine.' Moscow has been sending mixed signals about Ukraine but pledged to respect its territorial integrity. Putin has long dreamed of pulling Ukraine, a country of 46 million people considered the cradle of Russian civilization, closer into Moscow's orbit. Meanwhile, Swiss prosecutors announced they had launched a criminal investigation against Yanukovych and his son Aleksander over 'aggravated money laundering.' They said police and Geneva's chief prosecutor conducted a search and seized documents Thursday at the premises of a company owned by Aleksander Yanukovych. +11 Ukraine's ex-President Yanukovych has made his first public appearance since being ousted, telling a news conference that he was going to fight for his country's future Switzerland and Austria both said they would freeze any assets Yanukovych and his entourage might have in those countries. Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and the West, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea, a southeastern peninsula of Ukraine that has semi-autonomous status, was seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great, and was once the crown jewel in Russian and then Soviet empires. It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine. In a bid to shore up Ukraine's fledgling administration, the International Monetary Fund has said it is 'ready to respond' to Ukraine's bid for financial assistance; Ukraine's finance ministry has said it needs $35 billion over the next two years to avoid default. The European Union is also considering emergency loans for a country that is the chief conduit of Russian natural gas to western Europe. And Putin, in his statement, asked his government to 'hold consultations with foreign partners including the IMF and the G8 nations to provide financial aid to Ukraine.'          Putin’s Ukrainian dilemma: the port at Sevastopol The Ukrainian port, currently leased to Russia, is the heart of Russia's activity throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin.   Russian Navy boats at Sevastopol Photo by Reuters Artillery Bay in Sevastopol.Photo by Wikimedia Commons There are several reasons to fear that if the crisis in Ukraine is not resolved diplomatically to Russia's satisfaction, Ukraine's neighbor will intervene - and some of the reasons also have to do with Syria. Russia maintains an enormous military port in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, home of Russia’s mighty Black Sea Fleet. Until 1954, the port was in Russian territory, but then it was transferred to Ukraine for administrative reasons. Apparently, the Soviet leadership believed that the Soviet Union was immortal and internal administrative borders would be politically meaningless. It became a diplomatic problem with the breakup of the Soviet Union, but a solution was found: Since 1991, the Sevastopol port has been leased to Russia, comparable to the control the Americans have of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Russia has another port in its territory in Novorosisk, but it is a civilian port that cannot serve as a substitute for a military port. The Russian superpower has always had a serious strategic problem: how to ensure access in winter to the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere. The Sevastopol port currently serves as the Russian end of the military route to the warm waters. The straits that pass through Turkey – the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles – are the continuation of the route. What does this have to do with Syria? For many years, Syria’s Tartus port has served as a “safe harbor” for the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean. In May 2013, as part of Russia’s new strategic deployment in the wake of the rebellion against President Bashar Assad’s regime, Russia established a “Mediterranean Naval Command.” Tartus is now the safe harbor for the new fleet, which comprises 11 warships: aircraft carriers, submarine combat ships, escort ships and a missile destroyer. This new fleet is an extension of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, and under its command. All Russian activity in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean is currently dependent upon the Sevastopol port in Ukraine. However, it is through the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia that Russia is transferring increasingly large arms shipments to Assad’s army and safeguarding its interests in Damascus. And with America’s recent wariness of Egypt, contacts are being pursued between Moscow and Cairo for a $2 billion arms deal that would be financed by Saudi Arabia. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Sevastopol port is indirectly the key to Syria and perhaps to Egypt and the entire Mediterranean in the future. How to explain the American restraint – it could even be called passivity – regarding the events in Ukraine? Could American and European pressure cause Putin to give up Sevastopol? There is no way this could happen – first, because Putin cannot allow his government to suffer such a serious strategic blow and, second, because in 1994, in Budapest, the United States and Russia signed a “security guarantee memorandum,” which said that in return for giving up the Soviet-era nuclear weapons in its possession and joining the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT), Ukraine received an American and Russian guarantee of its territorial wholeness. For America, the gain was in removing Ukraine from the nuclear equation, a major success for the NPT, and the destruction of a large number of nuclear weapons, remnants of the Soviet era. For Russia, the gain was in keeping Ukraine as a buffer between Russia and Europe and maintaining the status quo in Sevastopol. Ukraine did give up the nuclear weapons that were left in its territory, and it signed the NPT. Russia thereby won American approval to freeze the strategic situation as is, including the continued use of the Sevastopol port as a base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. If Ukraine splits into East and West, or moves into the Western sphere of influence, Russia will likely view it as a violation of the 1994 convention. If Ukraine degenerates into chaos, Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol will be in danger. If that happens, Putin may have an interest in seeing Ukraine split, for he will have no choice but to seize control somehow – perhaps with the services of a loyal Ukrainian politician – of Sevastopol and the surrounding area, or even of Eastern Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula where it is situated. President Obama will have no choice but to go along with Russia’s seizing control. Obama will be able to justify the American passivity by citing commitment to agreements, but he will also have in mind the partial but very successful cooperation with Putin on Syria and Iran. In Obama’s view, the success of the nuclear talks with Iran, the dismantling of the Syrian chemical weapons and a governmental compromise in Damascus, even a defeat of the radical Sunni Islamists in Syria and Iraq, all depend on cooperation with Putin. A crisis in Ukraine will undermine this. Obama has already ceded America’s status as the lone global superpower, and cooperation with Putin is part of the multi-polar world in which he believes. From Putin’s point of view, a military invasion would be a last resort: Ukraine is not Georgia and the political and economic cost would be tremendous. Putin is happy to taunt Obama at every opportunity, but he still has no wish to really push America into a corner. Therefore, he is apparently already demanding that his advisers come up with creative solutions for avoiding an invasion while safeguarding Russian interests in Ukraine. These are interests he will not sacrifice, no matter what.   Ukraine is far more important to Russia than it is to the US or EU. If the situation in Ukraine spirals out of control and right-wing extremists seize control, Russian intervention is certain. The arrogant and stupid Obama regime has carelessly and recklessly created a direct strategic threat to the existence of Russia. According to the Moscow Times, this is what a senior Russian official has to say: “If Ukraine breaks apart, it will trigger a war.” Ukraine “will lose Crimera first,” because Russia “will go in just as we did in Georgia.” Another Russian official said: “ We will not allow Europe and the US to take Ukraine from us. The states of the former Soviet Union, we are one family. They think Russia is still as weak as in the early 1990s but we are not.”   The Ukrainian right-wing is in a stronger position than Washington’s paid Ukrainian puppets, essentially weak and irrelevant persons who sold out their country for Washington’s money. The Right Sector is organized. It is armed. It is indigenous. It is not dependent on money funneled in from Washington and EU financed NGOs. It has an ideology, and it is focused. The Right Sector doesn’t have to pay its protesters to take to the streets like Washington had to do. Most importantly, well-meaning but stupid protesters–especially the Kiev students–and an Ukrainian parliament playing to the protesters destroyed Ukrainian democracy. The opposition controlled parliament removed an elected president from office without an election, an obvious illegal and undemocratic action. The opposition controlled parliament issued illegal arrest warrants for members of the president’s government. The opposition controlled parliament illegally released criminals from prison. As the opposition has created a regime of illegality in place of law and constitutional procedures, the field is wide open for the Right Sector. Expect everything the opposition did to Yanukovich to be done to them by the Right Sector. By their own illegal and unconstitutional actions, the opposition has set the precedent for their own demise.   Just as the February 1917 revolution against the Russian Tsar set the stage for the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, surprising the stupid “reformers,” the overthrow of the Ukrainian political order has set the stage for the Right Sector. We can only hope that the Right Sector blows its chance. The American media is a useless news source. It serves as a Ministry for Government Lies. The corrupt propagandists are portraying the undemocratic removal of Yanukovich as a victory for freedom and democracy. When it begins to leak out that everything has gone wrong, the presstitutes will blame it all on Russia and Putin. The Western media is a plague upon humanity. Americans have no idea that the neoconservative regime of the White House Fool is leading them into a Great Power Confrontation that could end in destruction of life on earth.   This week was marked by protests around the world. Anti-government protesters guard the perimeter of Independence Square, known as Maidan, on February 19, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union. Thai farmers battle with soldiers as they protest the government’s repeatedly delayed payments for rice submitted to the pledging scheme at the government’s temporary office in Bangkok on February 17, 2014. Thai opposition demonstrators besieged government offices on February 17, including a compound that has been used as a temporary headquarters by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in defiance of authorities who have vowed to reclaim key state buildings. 1 Anti-government protesters guard the perimeter of Independence Square, known as Maidan, on February 19, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images) # A Russian spy ship docked in Havana on Wednesday, and neither Cuba nor Russia offered any mention or explanation of the mysterious visit that is reminiscent of the Cold War. AFP reported that the Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, that measures 300 feet long and 47.5 feet wide, appeared in the section of Havana's port usually used by cruise ships. The intelligence vessel bristles with electronic eavesdropping equipment and weaponry, including AK-630 rapid-fire cannons and surface-to-air missiles. +4 Bringing back memories: Tourists in a old American car pass by the Russian Viktor Leonov spy ship that docked in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday +4 Mystery: A Soviet-made Lada limousine passes by the warship. Neither Cuba nor Russia have given any explanation for the presence of the intelligence vessel Cuba's visitor is from the Vishnya or Meridian-class, which was built for Russia's navy in the 1980s and is still in service today. AFP reports that the Viktor Leonov has a crew of about 200 sailors. Previous visits by Russian military ships to Cuba have usually been acknowledged by the state's media or authorities. Meanwhile, the United States warned Moscow over Russia's maneuvers near the troubled Ukraine. Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the US that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a 'grave mistake.' Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding. The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided politically but on the verge of financial collapse. +4 Facilities: The Russian ship docked at the port in Havana Its fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled the capital last week. In Kiev's Independence Square, the heart of the protest movement against Yanukovych, the interim leaders who seized control after he disappeared proposed Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister. The 39-year-old served as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker before Yanukovych took office in 2010, and is widely viewed as a technocratic reformer who enjoys the support of the U.S. Across Ukraine, the divided allegiances between Russia and the West were on full display as fistfights broke out between pro- and anti-Russia protesters in the strategic Crimea peninsula. Amid the tensions, Putin put the military on alert for massive exercises involving most of the military units in western Russia, and announced measures to tighten security at the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The maneuvers will involve some 150,000 troops, 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 navy ships, and are intended to 'check the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security,' Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. +4 Tension A Pro-Russia demonstration in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine on Tuesday. Across Ukraine, the divided allegiances between Russia and the West were on full display as fistfights broke out between pro- and anti-Russia protesters. The move prompted a sharp rebuke from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who warned Russia against any military intervention in Ukraine. 'Any kind of military intervention that would violate the sovereign territorial integrity of Ukraine would be a huge, a grave mistake,' Kerry told reporters in Washington. 'The territorial integrity of Ukraine needs to be respected,' Kerry said.   Viktor Yanukovych today claimed he is still the rightful president of Ukraine and has asked Russia for 'protection' from 'extremists' in his country. The news comes amid reports that fighters jets in the West of Russia have been put on high alert as Eastern Europe accelerates towards major conflict. Armed men have also seized the regional government building and the parliament building in the eastern region of Crimea which was the scene of fighting yesterday between Russian sympathisers and pro-European revolutionaries. The men who took control of the buildings wore black and orange ribbons, a Russian symbol of the victory in World War II, and waved Russian flags. After a week in hiding Yanukovych has revealed he is in Russia and has issued a statement on the situation in Ukraine. In the statement sent to Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Yanukovych said: 'I still consider myself to be the legal head of the Ukrainian state.' Scroll down for video +15 Further unrest in Ukranie Pro-Russia demonstrators wave flags in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine +15 Supporters of Ukraine's revolution and their pro-Russian opponents faced each other in an ugly stand-off outside the regional assembly +15 Armed men today stormed the government buildings in Simferopol and flew Russian flags from the roof although it is unclear which group they are from +15 A local Taatar leader said the protestors have made no demands and have not contacted anyone else on the outside. Russian supporters and Tartars clashed yesterday in the Crimea 'I am compelled to ask the Russian Federation to ensure my personal security from the actions of extremists,' he said, adding that the latest decisions by the Ukrainian parliament 'do not have legitimate character'. 'I, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, address the people of Ukraine,' said the statement. 'I still consider myself to be the legitimate leader of the Ukrainian state, elected on the basis of Ukrainian citizen's free will. 'I cannot remain indifferent to tragic events in my home country. I consider the Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine, signed on February 21,2014, by myself and Ukrainian opposition leaders, not fulfilled. There is rampant extremism on the streets of our country. My supporters and I receive threats of inflicting bodily harm.' +15 Force: Anti-Yanukovych protesters sit on top of an armoured vehicle as it drives past a barricade in central Kiev today +15 The army vehicle patrolled Independence Square, the epicentre of the country's current unrest Yanukovych makes no mention of accusations of mass murder against him over protesters shot in Independence Square in Kiev last week. Russia later confirmed it has granted his request 'to ensure his personal safety'. Yesterday a respected Russian news organisation reported that Yanukovych was seen in a Moscow hotel and was now staying in a Kremlin sanatorium just outside the city. The RBK report was impossible to confirm, but security at the Ukraina Hotel was unusually heavy late Wednesday, with police watching from parked vehicles outside and guards posted throughout the lobby. Some of Yanukovych's allies, also reported to have been at the hotel, may have still been there. Yanukovych has not been seen publicly since Saturday. It has also been reported that fighter jets along Russia's western borders have been put on combat alert, the Defence Ministry was quoted as saying on Thursday by Interfax news agency. 'Constant air patrols are being carried out by fighter jets in the border regions,' Interfax quoted a ministry statement as saying. 'From the moment they received the signal to be on high alert, the air force in the western military region left for the ... air bases.' Phone calls to the Crimean legislature rang unanswered, and its website was down. +15 +15 His biggest fight yet: Vitali Klitschko (right), leader of the 'Udar' (Punch) party speaks with Arseniy Yatsenyuk (left), leader of the 'Batkivshchyna (Fatherland)' party, during a parliament session in Kiev today +15 Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (right) and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko at a table at the Presidential Palace in Kiev on 21 February. The ousted leader has emerged in Russia The men also put up a sign saying 'Crimea is Russia,' and threw a flash grenade when a journalist asked them a question. Ukraine's acting interior minister says Interior Ministry troops and police have been put on high alert after dozens of men seized local government and legislature buildings in the Crimea region. A confrontation broke out between pro-Russia separatists and supporters of the country's new leaders. It quoted a local Tatar leader, Refat Chubarov, as saying on Facebook: 'I have been told that the buildings of parliament and the council of ministers have been occupied by armed men in uniforms that do not bear any recognisable insignia.' 'They have not yet made any demands,' he said. It was not immediately clear who was in control of the buildings, but there were reports that the Russian flag was flying over both in the regional capital, Simferopol. Yesterday Putin ordered 150,000 troops, 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 ships to begin combat readiness drills. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said unspecified measures were also being taken to protect the country’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea, southern Ukraine. He claimed the operation was not linked to the crisis in Ukraine, insisting it was intended to ‘check the troops’ readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation’s military security’. The drill comes 48 hours after Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said the country’s interests and citizens in Ukraine were under threat in language that echoed his statements justifying Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 when he was president. The US and EU nations have warned Russia against military intervention in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that Mr Putin wants to be part of a Eurasian union he is creating. Dozens of Crimean Tartar protesters storm parliament building     +15 Rage: An anti-Yanukovych protester argues in front of the Ukrainian parliament in central Kiev +15 Pro-Russian demonstrators wave Russian and Crimea flags and shout slogans during a protest in front of a local government building in Simferopol, Crimea Ethnic Tatars who support Ukraine's new leaders and pro-Russia separatists had confronted each other outside the regional parliament yesterday. Fights broke out between pro-Russians and more than 10,000 Muslim Tatars who rallied in support of the interim government, chanting: ‘Ukraine is not Russia!’ The tensions in Crimea highlight the divisions that run through the nation of 46million, and underscore fears that the country’s mainly Russian-speaking east and south will not recognize the interim authority’s legitimacy. Ethnic Ukrainians loyal to Kiev have joined the Tatars in an alliance to oppose any move back towards Moscow. About 100 police were gathered in front of the parliament building today and doors into the building appeared to have been blocked by wooden crates. The streets around the parliament were mostly empty apart from people going to work. 'I heard gunfire in the night, came down and saw lots of people going in. Some then left. I'm not sure how many are still in there,' said a 30-year-old man who gave his name only as Roman. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted on Saturday after three months of unrest led by protesters in Kiev. He is now on the run being sought by the new authorities for murder in connection with the deaths of around 100 people during the conflict. Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 in the Soviet-era by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. With a part of Russia's Black Sea fleet based in the port of Sevastopol, it is the only region of Ukraine where ethnic Russians dominate in numbers, although many ethnic Ukrainians in other eastern areas speak Russian as their first language. +15 Ukrainian men help pull one another out of a stampede as a flag of Crimea is seen during clashes at rallies held by ethnic Russians and Crimean Tatars near the Crimean parliament building +15 An ethnic Russian Ukrainian holds a Russian flag as Crimean Tatars rally near the Crimean parliament building +15 Ukrainian police separate ethnic Russians and Crimean Tatars during rallies near the Crimean parliament building +15 An ethnic Russian Ukrainian man holds the Crimea flag on top of an old Soviet tank during rallies near the Crimean parliament building yesterday With Crimea now the last big bastion of opposition to the new post-Yanukovich political order in Kiev, Ukraine's new leaders have been voicing alarm over signs of separatism there. The Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, were victimised by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in World War Two and deported en masse to Soviet Central Asia in 1944 on suspicion of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of them returned to their homeland after Ukraine gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. The clashes came after fears were raised that the Russian president Vladimir Putin may be planning to send forces into Ukraine after the toppling of its Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych. Mr Shoigu said the Russian military tests will be conducted in two stages. At first, military units will be brought to ‘the highest degree of combat readiness’ and deployed to land and sea positions. The second stage will include tactical exercises involving warships from the northern and Baltic fleets, while some warplanes will move to combat airfields. Mr Shoigu said the forces must ‘be ready to bomb unfamiliar testing grounds’.             3 Olga Gharkova bathes in a hot pot at the British Banya bathhouse, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. "The most important thing about the banya is to have a good spirit in the body," says bathhouse master Ivan Tkach. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) #   8 An anti-government protester holds a firearm as he mans a barricade on the outskirts of Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Fierce clashes between police and protesters, some including gunfire, shattered a brief truce in Ukraine's besieged capital Thursday, killing numerous people. The deaths came in a new eruption of violence just hours after the country's embattled president and the opposition leaders demanding his resignation called for a truce and negotiations to try to resolve Ukraine's political crisis. (AP Photo/ Marko Drobnjakovic) # 9 An anti-government protester is engulfed in flames during clashes with riot police outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. Thousands of angry anti-government protesters clashed with police in a new eruption of violence following new maneuvering by Russia and the European Union to gain influence over this former Soviet republic. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) #   12 An artist paints the portrait of an anti-government protester wearing a full military outfit on a barricade in Kiev, on February 16, 2014. Ukraine's political situation has been volatile since a massive protest movement erupted in November when Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a key EU trade pact in favour of closer ties with Russia, angering pro-EU parts of the population. The movement has since evolved into an outright drive to oust Yanukovych, while protesters still occupy Kiev's central Independence square. MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images #   15 Anti-government demonstrators stand on barricades during clashes with riot police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko on February 18 urged women and children to leave the opposition's main protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, as riot police massed nearby. "We ask women and children to quit Maidan as we cannot rule out the possibility that they will storm (the camp)," the former heavyweight boxing champion told protestors on the square. AFP PHOTO / SANDRO MADDALENA #     17 A protester stands behind barricades during clashes with police on February 20, 2014 in Kiev. Ukraine's embattled leader announced a "truce" with the opposition as he prepared to get grilled by visiting EU diplomats over clashes that killed 26 and left the government facing diplomatic isolation. The shocking scale of the violence three months into the crisis brought expressions of grave concern from the West and condemnation of an "attempted coup" by the Kremlin. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC # 18 Protesters advance to new positions in Kiev on February 20, 2014. Top officials were evacuated on Thursday from Ukraine's main government building close to clashes in the heart of Kiev that AFP reporters said left at least 17 protesters dead with apparent gun shot wounds. "This morning, all cabinet employees were evacuated from the building. These were official orders," a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian government told AFP. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images # 19 Protesters advance towards new positions in Kiev on February 20, 2014. Armed protesters stormed police barricades in Kiev on Thursday in renewed violence that killed at least 26 people and shattered an hours-old truce as EU envoys held crisis talks with Ukraine's embattled president. Bodies of anti-government demonstrators lay amid smouldering debris after masked protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and stones forced police from Kiev's iconic Independence Square -- the epicentre of the ex-Soviet country's three-month-old crisis. KIEV, Ukraine — Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake." Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding. The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided politically but on the verge of financial collapse. Its fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled the capital last week. In Kiev's Independence Square, the heart of the protest movement against Yanukovych, the interim leaders who seized control after he disappeared proposed Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister. The 39-year-old served as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker before Yanukovych took office in 2010, and is widely viewed as a technocratic reformer who enjoys the support of the U.S. Across Ukraine, the divided allegiances between Russia and the West were on full display as fistfights broke out between pro- and anti-Russia protesters in the strategic Crimea peninsula. Amid the tensions, Putin put the military on alert for massive exercises involving most of the military units in western Russia, and announced measures to tighten security at the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The maneuvers will involve some 150,000 troops, 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 navy ships, and are intended to "check the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. The move prompted a sharp rebuke from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who warned Russia against any military intervention in Ukraine. "Any kind of military intervention that would violate the sovereign territorial integrity of Ukraine would be a huge, a grave mistake," Kerry told reporters in Washington. "The territorial integrity of Ukraine needs to be respected." In delivering the message, Kerry also announced that the Obama administration was planning $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine and would consider additional direct assistance for the former Soviet republic. Still, Kerry insisted that U.S. policy was not aimed at reducing Russia's influence in Ukraine or other former Soviet republics, but rather to see their people realize aspirations for freedom in robust democracies with strong economies. "This is not 'Rocky IV'," Kerry said, referring to the 1985 Sylvester Stallone film in which an aging American boxer takes on a daunting Soviet muscleman. "It is not a zero-sum game. We do not view it through the lens of East-West, Russia-U.S. or anything else. We view it as an example of people within a sovereign nation who are expressing their desire to choose their future. And that's a very powerful force." Russia denied the military maneuvers had any connection to the situation in Ukraine, but the massive show of force appeared intended to show both the new Ukrainian authorities and the West that the Kremlin was ready to use all means to protect its interests. While Russia has pledged not to intervene in Ukraine's domestic affairs, it has issued a flurry of statements voicing concern about the situation of Russian speakers in Ukraine, including in the Crimea. The strategic region, which hosts a major Russian naval base and where the majority of the population are Russian speakers, has strong ties to Moscow. It only became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia — a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine. Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel of the Russian military's General Staff, wrote a commentary in a Russian online newspaper, slon.ru, saying "if illegal armed formations attempt to overthrow the local government in Crimea by force, a civil war will start and Russia couldn't ignore it." Still, while the exercises include most units from Russia's Western Military District and some from the Central Military District that spreads across the Urals and part of Siberia, it does not involve troops from the Southern Military District, such as the Black Sea Fleet and areas in southern Russia that neighbor Ukraine. This seemed to signal that Moscow does not want to go too far. By flexing its military muscles Russia clearly wants to show the West it must seriously consider its interests in Ukraine, while avoiding inflaming tensions further. In Crimea, fistfights broke out between rival demonstrators in the regional capital of Simferopol when some 20,000 Muslim Tatars rallying in support of Ukraine's interim leaders clashed with a smaller pro-Russian rally. The protesters shouted and attacked each other with stones, bottles and punches, as police and leaders of both rallies struggled to keep the two groups apart. One health official said at least 20 people were injured, while the local health ministry said one person died from an apparent heart attack. Tatar leaders said there was a second fatality when a woman was trampled to death by the crowd. Authorities did not confirm that. The Tatars, a Muslim ethnic group who have lived in Crimea for centuries, were brutally deported in 1944 by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, but have since returned. One of the first jobs for Yatsenyuk and other members of his new Cabinet will be seeking outside financial help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Economists say Ukraine is close to financial collapse, with its currency under pressure and its treasury almost empty. The acting finance minister has said Ukraine will need $35 billion in bailout loans to get through the next two years. Any such deal will require a new prime minister to take unpopular steps, such as raising the price of gas to consumers. The state gas company charges as little as one-fifth of what it pays for imported Russian gas. The IMF unsuccessfully pressed Ukraine to halt the practice under two earlier bailouts, and halted aid when Kiev wouldn't comply. The European Commission's top officials held a meeting Wednesday in Brussels to discuss how the 28-nation bloc can provide rapid financial assistance to Ukraine. 20 Protesters catch fire as they stand behind burning barricades during clashes with police on February 20, 2014 in Kiev. Ukraine's embattled leader announced a "truce" with the opposition as he prepared to get grilled by visiting EU diplomats over clashes that killed 26 and left the government facing diplomatic isolation. The shocking scale of the violence three months into the crisis brought expressions of grave concern from the West and condemnation of an "attempted coup" by the Kremlin. AFP PHOTO/BULENT KILIC # 23 Anti-government protesters continue to clash with police in Independence square, despite a truce agreed between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders on February 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #