Head of Ukraine's navy defects to pro-Russian Crimea

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-head-ukrainian-navy-defects-crimea-20140302,0,3068476.story



Ukrainian navy crew members stand on the deck of the corvette Ternopil in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Head of Ukraine's navy defects to pro-Russian Crimea
By Sergei L. Loiko
March 2, 2014, 4:14 p.m.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, fired his new navy commander on Sunday for “high treason” after the admiral pledged allegiance to pro-Russian forces in Crimea, a Ukrainian news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, Adm. Denis Berezovsky appeared in public in Sevastopol in the company of Crimea's newly elected pro-Moscow premier, Sergei Aksenov, and pledged allegiance to his administration.

“I, Denis Berezovsky, swear an oath of allegiance to the residents of the republic of Crimea,” Berezovsky said in televised remarks. “I swear to fulfill my military duty with dignity, to bravely protect lives and freedom of the residents of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.”

Crimea is a semi-autonomous region of Ukraine that now appears to be effectively under Russian control.

[pampango]

1. He could not convince others: "Ukraine navy officers reject plea to defect to Russian-backed Crimea"

Navy commander Denis Berezovsky – facing treason charges in Kiev – fails to persuade others to join him in switching sides

Ukrainian navy officers have rejected pleas for them to defect to the self-declared Crimean government at an extraordinary meeting at their headquarters in Sevastopol. At Ukraine's naval command on Monday morning, officers lined up in the yard of their Sevastopol headquarters to be addressed by both Berezovsky and the newly appointed navy chief commander, Serhiy Haiduk.

The officers broke into applause as Haiduk read them an order from Kiev removing Berezovsky from his position, and told them that Berezovsky was facing treason charges. When Haiduk had finished his dry but compelling address, the officers spontaneously broke into the national anthem, and some were seen to cry. Berezovsky showed no visible sign of emotion.

The officers listened sullenly as Berezovsky tried to entice them over to the newly proclaimed Crimean fleet he now heads – assuring them they would retain their ranks and there would be no interruption of salary payments. "Viktor Yanukovych is the legitimately elected president of Ukraine," he told them, arguing there would be no breach of oath if they served Crimea. "The seizure of power in Kiev was orchestrated from abroad."

When Berezovsky requested questions from the officers, a chorus of criticism broke from the ranks. "In what way exactly did foreign powers intervene in Kiev, compared to the way they are intervening now in Crimea?" asked an officer to applause from those assembled. "Don't ask provocative questions," Berezovsky barked back.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/03/ukraine-navy-officers-defect-russian-crimea-berezovsky

Interesting that the new government chose to appoint a new navy commander who defected after 1 day on the job. Is he ethnic Russian and the government was trying to be 'fair' by appointing him? Is he ethnic Ukrainian and decided for other reasons to defect? Very interesting. I imagine the Ukrainian navy was not much of a threat to the Russian navy anyway so none of this probably matters militarily but it does make for intriguing politics.