The dawn raid in Crimea came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...ordered snap combat readiness drills to be held near the Ukrainian border, raising fears the Kremlin might use force to sway the outcome of a three-month crisis that has pitted Moscow against the West in a Cold War-style confrontation.
Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov told a boisterous session of parliament that any movement of Russian troops out of their Black Sea bases in Crimea "will be considered as military aggression."
The same message was delivered when the Ukrainian foreign ministry called in Moscow's charge d'affaires for urgent consultations.
Ukraine's bloodiest crisis since independence in 1991 erupted in November when Viktor Yanukovych -- deposed as president last weekend -- made the shock decision to ditch an historic EU trade deal in favour of closer ties with old master Russia.
Yanuvkoych, in his first comments since fleeing Kiev, said in a surprise statement to Russian news agencies issued from
News reports in Moscow said the runaway leader's request for personal security had been "granted on Russian territory" but provided no other details.
Ukraine had appeared to take a decisive swing back towards the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
by ousting Yanukovych's entire pro-Russian team and replacing it with a new brand of younger pro-Western politicians who will steer the nation -- torn between a Russified east and pro-European west -- until snap presidential polls are held on May 25.