Southeast Europe, Turkey criticise Russian moves in Ukraine

Southeast Europe, Turkey criticise Russian moves in Ukraine

The annexation of Crimea has many worried about Russian ambition in Eastern Europe.

A woman walks past Russian soldiers patrolling outside the navy headquarters in Simferopol on Tuesday (March 18th). [AFP]

Observers in Southeast Europe and Turkey are deeply concerned about the future of eastern Ukraine and former Soviet states as Russia solidifies its hold on Crimea.

Several hundred militiamen stormed a Ukrainian navy base in Sevastopol -- home of Russia's Black Fleet -- and took it over on Wednesday (March 19th). Also, the Crimean prosecutor's office announced that the commander of the Ukrainian navy was detained for questioning.

The defence minister of Ukraine, which like the West does not accept Crimea's weekend vote to break from Ukraine and join Russia, was denied entry to the peninsula Wednesday when he attempted to travel there to ease tensions, according to a Russian news agency.

The developments came a day after Russia President Vladimir Putin signed documents to annex Crimea, and a confrontation between Ukrainian military personnel and militiamen left two people dead.

"Crimean Tatars are under a very big danger than Turkey would ever think of," Can Kasapoglu, security analyst at the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), told SETimes.

"The existence of local militia forces in Crimea, like they were in Georgia in 2008, constitutes the worst danger for them," Kasapoglu added. "These militias follow the Tatars' political orientation very closely. They know that Tatars are very close to [former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia] Timoshenko and they monitor how much they are against Russian intervention in Crimea and...