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Ukraine Says Russian Troops Take Over Airports in Crimea
The Washington Post ^ | Friday, February 28, 2014 | William Booth

Posted on 02/28/2014 8:44:03 AM PST by kristinn

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Several hundred troops in green camouflage, without insignia and carrying military-style automatic rifles, entered and secured areas of the civilian airport in Crimea’s regional capital of Simferopol early Friday and deployed elsewhere, drawing protests from the new Ukrainian government against what it called a Russian invasion.

Video taken at the scene showed the troops patrolling inside the airport and standing guard outside. Flights continued to operate; no shots were fired.

SNIP

At the Belbek airport, armed men and a military transport truck blocked the entrance. Whoever the men were, they did not appear to be civilian militiamen, but trained soldiers.

When a man who appeared to be a Russian officer with two bodyguards approached them, they spread out in defensive positions, squatted and waited for orders.

Dozens of troop transport trucks were scattered along the highway between Sevastopol and Simferopol.

Seven Russian armored personnel carriers were spotted on the roadside outside Sevastopol showing Russian colors. One of the gunners said they were Russian Federation forces from the Krasnodar region in Russia, about 180 miles from Sochi.

The mysterious troops at the main airport in Simferopol slowly circulated at the arrival and departure concourses as international flights from Moscow and Istanbul continued as scheduled.

The soldiers refused to answer questions from reporters about who they are and what their mission is.

A dozen pro-Russian civilian self defense militiamen stood by, but not with, the soldiers.

In the Balaklava district near Sevastopol, at least 20 men wearing the uniform of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and carrying automatic rifles surrounded a Ukrainian border guard post Friday, initiating a tense standoff with Ukrainian border police inside, Reuters news agency reported.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: crimea; russia; ukraine
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To: goldstategop

It has nothing to do with being personal.

They are taking over airfields and towns....those are not part of a a naval base.

Russia is not taking a ‘broad interpretation’, they are invading.


21 posted on 02/28/2014 1:26:57 PM PST by KOZ.
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To: KOZ.
Poland, 1939
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 1940
Hungary, 1956
Czechoslovakia, 1968
Afghanistan, 1979
Georgia, 2008
Ukraine, 2014

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

22 posted on 02/28/2014 1:32:10 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

Exactly. Some people are trying to rationalize a takeover and invasion.


23 posted on 02/28/2014 1:40:21 PM PST by KOZ.
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To: Sacajaweau

When foreign troops arrive un invited and unexpected, its an invasion.


24 posted on 02/28/2014 6:14:31 PM PST by armydawg505
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To: kristinn
Whoa, let me get this straight. Unknown soldiers with no insignia have invaded Ukraine. They refuse to say where they came from. Russia has no idea where they came from, and has publicly denied that they're Russian troops.

Since no nation claims them, they basically have the same status as mercenaries, and therefore carpet bombing them all could not possibly provoke an international incident between two nations, right?

So all we need now is for our President to ....... to ..... umm .......

Oh never mind! I just remembered who's in the White House.

.... On another topic: Does anyone else wake up in the morning, and the first thing they think is: Wow! Was that ever a doozy of the nightmare. I dreamt that ever since January of 2009, our beloved nation ...... oh crap! It wasn't a dream after all.

25 posted on 03/01/2014 8:33:17 AM PST by CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC (Folks ask about my politics. I say: I dont belong to any organized political party. I'm a Republican)
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