Pro-Russia separatists flex muscle in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula

The revolutionary upheaval in Ukraine’s faraway capital has awakened the separatist dreams of ethnic Russians living here on the Crimean Peninsula, where on Thursday pro-Russia gunmen who occupied the regional parliament building were met with an outpouring of support.

A group of men dressed in camouflage and armed with rocket-­propelled grenades entered the building early Thursday in the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea region, according to local reporters, then barricaded themselves inside and raised the Russian flag on the roof — a succinct answer to warnings from the United States and Europe that Ukraine remain united and Russia stand back.

Early Friday, a group of armed men in similar uniforms seized the main regional airport in ­Simferopol, the Interfax news agency reported. The report could not be confirmed.

In the freezing weather outside the parliament, separatist fever was running hot, as newly formed self-defense militias paraded under Russian military colors. They shouted thanks to their Soviet grandfathers who had fought against the Germans in World War II in the siege of nearby Sevastopol, a brutal 250-day campaign that left tens of thousands dead and the city in rubble.

“We want Crimea to return to Russia, pure and simple,” said Igor, a leader of a militia group composed of men who had fought in Afghanistan for the Soviet Union. Like other citizen militiamen, he declined to give his last name.

The demonstrations in Simferopol unnerved the newly appointed government more than 400 miles away in the capital, Kiev, where months of protests led to the ouster last week of Ukraine’s pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovych.

“Measures have been taken to counter extremist actions and not allow the situation to escalate into an armed confrontation” in the center of Simferopol, said Arsen Avakov, the interim interior minister.

By early morning, police had surrounded the Crimean parliament, but they did nothing to oust the men who had stormed inside. The occupation began to seem like a bit of a show; it is possible the gunmen had already departed. Police officers out front showed no fear of anyone inside and, instead, turned their backs to the building, taking frequent breaks to smoke cigarettes and drink tea.

Meanwhile, thousands of ethnic Russians — who make up about half of the Crimea’s population — arrived to demonstrate. They issued a warning to recalcitrant lawmakers here to give in to the crowd’s No. 1 demand: a referendum on, at minimum, whether to allow the Crimea n Peninsula — an autonomous state — to become an even more independent region, with its own leadership, which many demonstrators hoped would enshrine Russian language and culture.

Others who came to the parliament clearly wanted much more, calling for the Crimea to return to the arms of the Russian motherland. “The criminals had their revolution in Kiev, and now we are having ours in Crimea,” said Alexandr, a member of another self-defense brigade. “We’re Russian, and we belong to Russia.”

For all their fervor, the crowds have not been huge, and outside of Sevastopol, it is hard to judge how much support the cause of separatism or a more independent region might have. The government that was approved in Kiev on Thursday is stepping gingerly to avoid arousing passions. Pravy Sektor, the right-wing nationalist group, has said it will not send its members to the peninsula, to avoid confrontations.

Moscow has expressed displeasure with the upheavals in Ukraine, questioned the legitimacy of the new government and stressed that the West should keep out of the country’s internal affairs. But although Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on Wednesday ordered a large-scale military exercise in regions bordering other parts of Ukraine, triggering concern about a possible intervention, Russia has not signaled any desire to bring the Crimea back into its fold.

Even so, members of separatist militias in the Crimea, organized under a political party called the Russian Block, have begun to flex their muscle. They threw up checkpoints Thursday along the main highway between Sevastopol and Simferopol, operated by men in mismatched camouflage who stood before a hand-painted sign warning: “Those who approach with a sword will die by the sword.”

Until now, it could be illegal, and sometimes dangerous, to advocate separatism in Ukraine. Now it is all the rage, with groups here demanding that Russia reclaim territory that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. The Russian Black Sea naval fleet is berthed in Sevastopol and supports 15,000 sailors and support staff.

Outside the parliament, voices in the crowd shouted, “Take us back!” as demonstrators unfurled a large Russian flag, sang patriotic Russian songs and denounced as “hooligans” the forces behind Yanukovych’s ouster.

Yanukovych, on the run for several days, appeared Thursday in Moscow, where he was apparently granted Russia’s protection.

Asked what he thought would happen next, a Russian Block politician from Sevastopol, Gennadiy Basov, said, “I have no idea.”

Basov said the pro-Russia militias in the Crimea “are prepared to defend our homes and families” from any forces sent by the central government in Kiev.

“Everything coming out of Kiev is illegal,” Basov said.

He and others outside the parliament, stoked on inflammatory Russian TV news shows that repeatedly broadcast images of protesters in Kiev hurling gasoline bombs and advancing with clubs, warned that if they let their guard down, hordes of “fascists” would descend on the Crimea.

“They would come to steal, rape and kill,” one man said.

A woman who declined to give her name but described herself as “a Russian housewife from ­Simferopol” boasted that the demonstrators here were peaceful and unafraid to show their faces — ignoring for a moment that the protesters had gathered to support unknown gunmen inside the parliament.

In Kiev, Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine’s interim president, warned Moscow that any movement of military personnel off Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol “will be viewed as military aggression.”

Speaking in the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on Thursday, Turchynov said, “Ukrainian enemies should not try to destabilize the situation, should not encroach on our independence, sovereignty and territory.”

Will Englund in Kiev contributed to this report.

Washington Post