Armed men raid Crimea capital airport in search of Ukrainian troops.

[another_liberal]

The following is about as scary as it gets, short of an actual war. It's time for us to tone down our rhetoric and try to calm this situation, while that is still possible.

A group of armed men in military uniforms have raided Simferopol international airport in the capital of Crimea, looking for Ukrainian airlifted forces, the airport press service says. According to eyewitnesses in the middle of the night at least three KamAZ trucks without license plates drove to the airport with about 50 armed men. At first the group cordoned off the airport’s domestic flights terminal, but then pushed forward. The head of the security at the airport told EER.ru magazine that the armed group “politely” asked security officers to leave.

(snip)

They armed men reportedly were equipped in a similar way to the group of local ethnic Russian ‘self-defense squads’ that had taken control of and raised Russian flags over the buildings of the Crimean parliament and government in the region’s capital. Moscow MP Vladimir Garnachuk, who is now in Simferopol, elaborated that the aim of the ‘self-defense squads’ was to stop the interim president Aleksandr Turchinov from landing in Crimea. “The active asset of about 2,000 people are developing a plan to block the runway,” Garnachuk told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper via the phone.

(snip)


Read more at: http://rt.com/news/crimea-airport-terminal-capture-095/

[okaawhatever]

1. From NPR:

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of armed men in Russian-marked military uniforms occupied an airport in the capital of Ukraine's strategic Crimea region early Friday, a report said, but a later report cited an airport official as saying the men apologized and left after finding no Ukrainian troops had landed.

Witnesses told the Interfax news agency that the 50 or so men were wearing the same gear as the ones who seized government buildings in the city, Simferopol, on Thursday and raised the Russian flag. The report said the men with "Russian Navy ensigns" first surrounded the Simferopol Airport's domestic flights terminal.

The report could not be immediately confirmed. A later Interfax report, datelined Moscow, quoted an airport representative as saying the men apologized and left and that the airport was operating normally.

A woman who answered the phone at the airport said "no comment," and the airport's website listed the morning's first flight, to Moscow, as boarding on schedule.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=283270107
__________________

The issue here isn't the rhetoric of the United States, but the actions of these militants. The local Russian protesters don't know who they are. It seems more and more like these guys are a Russian Spetsnaz unit. I'll bet a hundred bucks that they "intercepted" some bad intel. According to media, they were there because they thought the acting President was flying in. What does that tell you about their motivations?

About the guys who took over the government building in Crimea, from the same article:

In Simferopol, tensions soared Thursday when gunmen toting rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles raised the Russian flag over the local parliament building. They wore black and orange ribbons, a Russian symbol of victory in World War II.

A pro-Russian activist who gave only his first name, Maxim, said he and other activists were camped overnight outside the parliament when about 50 men wearing flak jackets and carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers and sniper rifles took over the building.

"They were asking who we were. When we said we stand for the Russian language and Russia, they said: 'Don't be afraid. We're with you.' Then they began to storm the building, bringing down the doors," he said. "They didn't look like volunteers or amateurs; they were professionals. This was clearly a well-organized operation."

"Who are they?" he added. "Nobody knows."

[another_liberal]

2. I think the so-called "interim President" of Ukraine would be well advised . . .

To postpone his visit to Crimea for a few days.