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Russia Demands Ukranian Military Surrender

posted by LaminatorX on Monday March 03 2014, @07:00PM   
from the nothing-funny-to-say dept.

wantkitteh writes:

"The BBC is reporting that Russia has given Ukrainian military forces in Crimea a deadline of 3AM Tuesday morning to surrender or face assault. Moscow claims the position is to protect Russian civilians in Crimea following what it describes as the illegal coup in the past weeks. The Ukrainian Prime Minister has denounced Russia's actions as totally illegal and has called on it's allies to put pressure on Moscow. Russian military readiness in the area is very high with a blockade in place at Ukraine's naval headquarters and pre-positioned air and ground forces already in central locations around Crimea. Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and unprepared to face the threat. Demonstrations in the largely Russian-speaking area have supported Moscow's position while outside the area civilians are scared of what the future holds."

From the article:

Russia's military has given Ukrainian forces in Crimea until dawn on Tuesday to surrender or face an assault, Ukrainian defence sources have said. The head of Russia's Black Sea Fleet Aleksander Vitko set the deadline and also threatened two warships, Ukrainian officials said. However, Interfax news agency later quoted a fleet spokesman who denied that any ultimatum had been issued. Moscow has said its troops are needed in Crimea to protect civilians. The Kremlin says people in Crimea have come under threat from "ultra-nationalists" since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted last month. Russia is now said to be in de facto control of the Crimea region.

• Re:Georgia 2.0 (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @07:44PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @07:44PM (#10181)

  Maybe it was better to have kept the old president and do a trade deal with Russia instead of punching them in the nose, 2nd time? Remember the "Orange Revolution"? There is a large portion of the population that does not like what Kiev protesters want. Remember, the president was *elected* by the people!

  Ukraine is bankrupt and the Russian deal would have allowed it to pay its bills. That's why it needed that deal and no the pro-European deal. This is something that protesters forgot? Now, all that is off the table and the table is upside down.

  Part of why Ukraine is Bankrupt is because Yanukovych has been moving the money of the nation into his own and his friend's accounts. There is a paper trail in he hoards of documents [yanukovychleaks.org] found at his property. The Swiss have frozen his assets and are performing their own investigations [swissinfo.ch]. Of that $15B Russia was offering, how much more of it should have gone to Yanukovych and his friends? How would that have made anything better?

  You seem to be the one forgetting the "Orange Revolution". It was Yanukovych that caused that and LOST after the wide spread corruption of the election was displayed. I can't speak to the validity of his last elections as I have my feelings, but no proof of anything. That said, in light all he has done to maintain power in Ukraine, I completely understand why no-one would believe that there would be fresh and fair elections in December.

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