Despite earlier declarations from opposition leaders in Kiev that the Crimea referendum was illegal and Crimea would always be part of Ukraine, yesterday a plan was announced that Ukraine would pull out all its forces from Crimea. The forces, some 25,000 personnel, will be relocated to parts of Ukraine outside of the Crimea region.
Though not a formal recognition of Russian control over Crimea, it’s pretty close.
While the provisional government in Kiev has insisted that Russia’s annexation of Crimea is illegal and has appealed to international supporters for help, the evacuation announcement by the head of the national security council, Andriy Parubiy, effectively amounted to a surrender of Crimea, at least from a military standpoint.
It came hours after militiamen, backed by Russian forces, seized the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol and detained its commander, in what appeared to be the start of a concerted effort to oust the Ukrainian armed forces from outposts throughout the peninsula.
