Russian military were blocking an airport in the Black Sea port of
Sevastopol in Crimea near the Russian naval base while unidentified men
were patrolling another airport serving the regional capital, Ukraine's
new Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Friday.
Avakov wrote
in a Facebook post that the Belbek international airport in Sevastopol
was blocked by military units of the Russian navy.
"I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation," Avakov said.
The
Russian foreign ministry refused to comment while a spokesperson for
the Russian defence ministry was not available for comment.
It was not immediately clear whether the other airport, in Sevastopol, was open.
Early
on Friday, dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings
were seen patrolling the airport in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.
The airport appeared to be operating normally, with flights arriving and
departing.
No violence has been reported at either airport.
Cold War
At
Simferopol airport, an Associated Press photographer saw military men
armed with assault rifles on Friday morning patrolling the airport.
The
men were wearing uniforms without any insignia. Most refused to talk to
journalists. One of them, who identified himself only as Vladimir, said
they were part of a "self-defence unit" that was making sure that no
"fascists" would arrive from Kiev or elsewhere.
On Thursday,
masked gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles seized
the parliament and government offices in Simferopol and raised the
Russian flag over the parliament building.
Ukrainian officials sharply denounced the move. Ukrainian police cordoned off the area, but didn't confront the gunmen.
The
events in the Crimea region have heightened tensions with neighbouring
Russia. Moscow scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to patrol borders in
the first stirrings of a potentially dangerous confrontation reminiscent
of Cold War brinksmanship.
Russia also has granted shelter to
Ukraine's fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, state media reported,
after recent deadly protests in Kiev swept in a new government.
Mixed signals
Yanukovych
has a news conference scheduled on Friday in Russia's south near the
Ukrainian border. He has not been seen publicly since Saturday, and he
declared on Thursday in a statement that he remains Ukraine's legitimate
president.
Ukraine's parliament on Thursday elected a new
government led by a pro-Western technocrat who promptly pledged to
prevent any national break-up.
Moscow has been sending mixed
signals about Ukraine but pledged to respect its territorial integrity.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long dreamed of pulling Ukraine, a
country of 46 million people considered the cradle of Russian
civilisation, closer into Moscow's orbit.
Ukraine's population is
divided in loyalties between Russia and the West. Crimea, which was
seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great,
was once the crown jewel in Russian and then Soviet empires.
It
became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality
until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent
Ukraine.
In a bid to shore up Ukraine's fledgling administration,
the International Monetary Fund has said it is "ready to respond" to
Ukraine's bid for financial assistance.
The European Union is
also considering emergency loans for a country that is the chief conduit
of Russian natural gas to western Europe.
Ukraine's finance ministry has said it needs $35bn over the next two years to avoid default.
