Ukrainian ministers barred from entering Crimea

Kiev, March 19 (IANS) Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema and Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh have been barred from entering Crimea, the Minister of Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova said Wednesday.

“We will call a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council over this issue,” Xinhua quoted Denisova as saying.
Yarema and Tenyukh were reportedly travelling from Kiev to Crimea by a plane to “resolve the tense situation” in the crisis-hit peninsula.
Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksenov Wednesday said that the Crimean authorities would not give permission for the Ukrainian ministers to land.
A day after Crimea signed a treaty with Russia to join it, clashes broke out in the peninsula between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian supporters.
Crimean self-defence forces, which backed the peninsula’s integration with Russia, stormed the Ukrainian naval headquarters in the city of Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s press office said that a group of unidentified men have taken away the Ukrainian Navy chief, Sergey Gaiduk, from the Ukrainian navy headquarters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Crimean leaders signed a treaty Tuesday in Moscow for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to be part of the Russian territory.