UKRAINE: Unidentified armed men open fire during a takeover of the Ukrainian navy base in Crimea

Record ID: 567098

  • Title: UKRAINE: Unidentified armed men open fire during a takeover of the Ukrainian navy base in Crimea
  • Date: 10th March 2014
  • Summary: BAKHCHISARAY, UKRAINE (MARCH 10, 2014) (REUTERS) UKRAINIAN FLAG ON TOP OF UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE WIDE OF UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE BUILDING WITH UKRAINIAN FLAG DOGS NEAR WALL WITH UKRAINIAN COAT OF ARMS IMAGE WIDE OF MILITARY VEHICLE AND SERVICEMAN INSIDE BASE GROUP OF SERVICEMAN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN, SAYING: "Into Russia, I want stability and I am fed up with the stupidity" (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN, SAYING: "I agree with my friend on this" UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN SHOWING WOODEN STICKS SAYING: 'THIS IS OUR WEAPON' (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN, SAYING: "Take us to Russia" MILITARY TENT WIDE OF UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE HEADQUARTERS BUILDING WITH OFFICERS STANDING AT DOORWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SERGEI GUNDER, UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE DEPUTY COMMANDER, SAYING: "We are not going to surrender anything, we are military servicemen of Ukraine, and this is the territory of Ukraine. We had our oath and guarding out territory. We conduct our service in accordance with the present situation." MILITARY VEHICLE OFFICERS NEXT TO THEIR CARS BOARD WITH PHOTOS OF NAVY BASE RESPECTED SERVICEMEN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) YARIK ALEXANDROV, UKRAINIAN NAVY BASE SERVICEMAN, SAYING: "I don't know, I was standing outside our barrack when they told us to surrender, we said we are not going to surrender, then they started shooting under our feet, then we have surrendered, but what we could do we didn't have weapon, we had nothing, so we have surrendered. They told us to swear in Russia, some people have refused, the others said they will swear in Russia, those (servicemen) from Crimea. I left the base." WIDE OF RUSSIAN TROOPER WITH MASKED FACE SEEN FROM OUTSIDE THE BASE GATES UNIDENTIFIED ARMED MEN WITH MASKED FACE UNIDENTIFIED ARMED MEN ORDERING STOP FILMING WIDE OF RUSSIAN TROOPER WEARING BALACLAVA MASK INSIDE BASE
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6NMRBT90P1Q5TI44TXSZYHP92
  • Story Text: Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea on Monday (March 10) in the latest confrontation since Russian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula.
    The shooting took place at a motor pool base in Bakhchisaray.
    The men in two minibuses drove into the compound and demanded Ukrainian personnel there give them 10 trucks.
    Ukrainian serviceman Jarik Alexandrov, who left the base after it was captured by the unidentified armed men, said he refused the offer to swear in Russia.

    "I don't know, I was standing outside our barrack when they (unidentified armed men) came up and told us to surrender, we said we are not going to surrender, then they started shooting under our feet, then we have surrendered, but what we could do we didn't have weapon, we had nothing, so we have surrendered. They told us to swear in Russia, some people have refused the others said they will swear in Russia, those (servicemen) from Crimea. I left the base," said Yarik Alexandrov, a motor pool base serviceman.
    Reuters visited the base earlier on Monday before it was taken over by the unidentified armed men and talked to the servicemen there.
    The base personnel appeared to be deeply divided as some servicemen wanted to join and serve for Russia and the others preferred to serve Ukraine.
    Some servicemen were saying they would rather stay with Russia, "Take us to Russia," said one serviceman who refused to be identified.
    At the same time Ukrainian officers of the same motor pool base were confident about their oath to Ukraine and kept a large Ukrainian flag on top the base barrack, until it was removed when the unidentified armed men took over the base.

    "We are not going to surrender anything, we are military servicemen of Ukraine, and this is the territory of Ukraine. We had our oath and guarding out territory. We conduct our service in accordance with the present situation," said Sergei Gunder, a motor pool navy base deputy commander.
    The servicemen didn't have weapons and kept wooden sticks as their protection gear.
    Russian forces, who have been in control of Crimea for more than a week, have not so far exchanged fire in anger with Ukrainian troops.
    Shots were fired over the heads of a group of Ukrainians during a standoff at a military airfield last week.
    In other armed action, Russian forces took over a military hospital and a missile unit.
    Reuters correspondents also saw a big Russian convoy on the move just outside the port city of Sevastopol near a Ukrainian air defence base.
    It comprised more than 100 vehicles, including around 20 armoured personnel carriers, plus mobile artillery.
    Putin says Russia is not controlling events in Crimea but denials of Russian involvement are ridiculed by the United States as the two former Cold War enemies wage a geopolitical battle over the future of Crimea and Ukraine.
    Russian forces have in little more than a week taken over military installations across Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Russian territory until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954.
    Pro-Russian separatists have taken control of the regional parliament, declared Crimea part of the Russian Federation and announced a referendum for Sunday to confirm this.
    President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is acting to protect the rights of ethnic Russians, who make up a majority of Crimea's population, after Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovich was ousted in what Russia says was an unconstitutional coup.
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