Russia, India to discuss space cooperation

Moscow (Voice of Russia)
Mar 03, 2014

Russia and India have agreed to hold consultations on space cooperation and joint projects in this field, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday, February 26.

"We also discussed GLONASS and think there is an enormous potential for cooperation in this area and the joint use of space services in general," Rogozin, who is co-chair of the Russian-Indian inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, said.

He noted that this year India would be celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first astronaut Rakesh Sharma's space flight accomplished in 1984.

"We have agreed to hold a series of consultations between our space agencies to engage our Indian partners in the plans and projects to be undertaken by the United Rocket and Space Corporation," Rogozin said.

He met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Russia_India_to_discuss_space_cooperation_999.html.

Putin uses carrot and stick to dominate neighbors

March 06, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — As a counterweight to the European Union, Russia's Vladimir Putin is pursuing an ambitious dream rooted in memories of Soviet glory: The Eurasian Union.

It's a strategy to pull former Soviet satellite states back into Moscow's orbit through a combination of incentives and threats. And embattled Ukraine, a huge country of 46 million people, has lain at the center of the game plan.

Putin has put the Eurasian Union at the top of his presidential agenda, voicing hope that the new grouping could become a major economic powerhouse on par with the EU. He has sought to lure ex-Soviet nations with cheap energy and loans, while also expanding his military presence in these countries whenever he can.

Russia's offer of $15 billion to make Ukraine drop a trade accord with the EU was a carrot in Putin's Eurasia program. His deployment of troops to take over Crimea is a stick. Here is a look at how Russia has fared in bringing other former Soviet neighbors under its thumb:

IN PUTIN'S POCKET Putin understands that it's not just military might that matters in winning allies. Cash counts, too. He formed an economic bloc with Belarus and Kazakhstan in 2010 with a goal to bolster mutual trade through the removal of customs barriers. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan also want to join, and Tajikistan could be on membership track, too.

This Customs Union is the basis for the Eurasian Union, a more ambitious economic bloc set to be formed in 2015. Belarus, led by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko — dubbed "Europe's last dictator" — has been Russia's closest ally. Lukashenko has kept most of the economy in state hands and depended on cheap energy supplies and loans from Russia to keep it running. Belarus also has been an important military partner, hosting Russian military facilities and conducting joint maneuvers with Russian forces.

Kazakhstan, led by autocratic President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is the second largest country by territory and economy among the ex-Soviet nations. Nazarbayev has maneuvered between Russia and the West during more than two decades in power. But Russia has little leverage over Kazakhstan, whose energy riches and booming economy make it nearly an equal partner.

Armenia, whose economy has been crippled by a blockade imposed by arch-enemy Turkey, has been a staunch Russian ally. It has depended on Russian loans and hosted a major Russian military base. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian nation rocked by political instability, hosted a U.S. air base key for supporting operations in nearby Afghanistan. The base is now being shut down under Russian pressure. Kyrgyzstan also hosts a Russian air base, which is set to expand.

Tajikistan, one of the poorest ex-Soviet nations on Afghanistan's northern frontier, hosts an estimated 5,000 Russian troops and depends on Russian economic aid and remittances from migrants working in Russia.

WESTWARD GAZE Some ex-Soviet nations have developed strong ties with the West and shed Russia's influence. Energy-rich Azerbaijan has been shipping its Caspian oil to Western markets via a pipeline bypassing Russia and stayed away from any Russian integration projects. At the same time, it has maintained friendly ties with Russia, where some of its richest tycoons have major assets.

Georgia built strong ties with the West under U.S.-allied former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who sought to restore control over Moscow-backed breakaway provinces, triggering the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. The war was an extreme outcome, but the Kremlin has made a habit of keeping neighbors in line by promoting pro-Russian separatists on their territory.

Saakashvili's party lost control to a coalition led by a billionaire tycoon, who made his fortune in Russia and moved to normalize ties with Moscow. A candidate backed by him won a presidential vote last year. Despite Georgia's ongoing rapprochement with Russia, political ties have remained frozen over Moscow's recognition of independence of Georgia's separatist provinces after the war. Georgia is unlikely to be drawn back into Russia's orbit.

Impoverished Moldova, located between Ukraine and Romania, has sought to build closer ties with the West and faced Russian trade sanctions. Moscow has no economic interests in Moldova, but has vowed to preserve a military foothold there. Russian troops have remained in its breakaway province of Trans-Dniester since a conflict in 1992, and Moscow has rejected Western demands to recall them.

Several former Warsaw Pact nations in eastern Europe and ex-Soviet Baltic nations have joined the EU and NATO and are now safely outside Moscow's reach. Russia's relations with some of them often have been strained by political disputes, but Moscow lacks levers to pressure them.

SITTING ON THE FENCE Resource-rich Uzbekistan, led by authoritarian President Islam Karimov, who has been in office for more than two decades, has aspired for regional domination and zigzagged between Russia and the West. Karimov often had rocky relations with the West, which has criticized Uzbekistan's rights record. But he also has been very nervous about Russian influence and stonewalled Moscow's offers for closer economic and political cooperation.

Turkmenistan, a desert nation sitting on huge natural gas reserves, is ruled by authoritarian President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov. It has stayed away from Russia-dominated alliances and sought to develop close energy ties with both the West and China.

Putin: Russia has right to use force in Ukraine

March 04, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — Accusing the West of encouraging an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use its military to protect Russians there but hopes it won't need to. The Russian leader's first comments on Ukraine since its fugitive president fled came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev to meet with Ukraine's new government.

Putin declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places on Russia for its actions there will backfire. "We aren't going to fight the Ukrainian people," Putin said, adding that the massive military maneuvers Russia had been doing involving 150,000 troops near Ukraine's border had been previously planned and were unrelated to the current situation in Ukraine. He ordered the troops back to their bases.

The U.S. announced a $1 billion aid package Tuesday in energy subsidies to Ukraine, which faces a looming financial disaster. NATO members met in Brussels and announced that the alliance would hold talks Wednesday with Russian officials about Ukraine, while world markets rose, buoyed by Putin's apparent efforts to de-escalate tensions.

"We are going to do our best (to help you). We are going to try very hard," Kerry said upon arriving in Kiev. "We hope Russia will respect the election that you are going to have." Ukraine's finance minister, who says the country needs $35 billion to get through this year and next, was meeting with International Monetary Fund officials.

Tensions remained high in Crimea, with troops loyal to Moscow firing warning shots to ward off protesting Ukrainian soldiers. Heavily armed pro-Russian forces took over the strategic peninsula on Saturday, surrounding its ferry, military bases and border posts. Two Ukrainian warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, blocked from leaving by Russian ships.

The new Ukrainian leadership in Kiev, which Putin does not recognize, has accused Moscow of a military invasion in Crimea, which Putin denies. "Those unknown people without insignia who have seized administrative buildings and airports ... what we are seeing is a kind of velvet invasion," Russian military analyst Alexander Golts told The Associated Press in Moscow.

Yet world markets seemed to recover from their fright over Ukraine, clawing back a large chunk of Monday's stock losses, while oil, gold, wheat and the Japanese yen gave back some of their gains. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 200 points Tuesday on the news that Putin had pulled back troops from Ukraine's border.

"Confidence in equity markets has been restored as the standoff between Ukraine and Russia is no longer on red alert," said David Madden, market analyst at IG. Speaking from his residence outside Moscow, Putin said he still considers Viktor Yanukovych to be Ukraine's president and hopes that Russia won't need to use force in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.

Putin also insisted that the Russian military deployment in Crimea has remained within the limits set by a bilateral agreement on a Russian military base there. He said Russia had no intention of annexing Crimea, but insisted its residents have the right to determine the region's status in a referendum set for later this month.

Putin accused the West of using Yanukovych's decision in November to ditch a pact with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia to encourage the months of protests that drove him from power and put Ukraine's future in turmoil.

"We have told them a thousand times 'Why are you splitting the country?'" he said. Yet he acknowledged that Yanukovych has no political future and said Russia gave him shelter only to save his life. Ukraine's new government wants to put the fugitive leader on trial for the deaths of over 80 people during protests last month in Kiev.

At the House of Commons in London, British Foreign Minister William Hague rejected Putin's arguments. "The suggestion that a president who has fled his country then has any authority whatsoever to invite the forces of a neighboring country into that country is baseless," he told U.K. lawmakers.

Ukraine's dire finances were a key issue in the protests that drove Yanukovych from power. On Tuesday, Russia's state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom said it will cancel a price discount on gas it sells to Ukraine. Russia had offered the discount in December as part of Russian help for Ukraine. Gazprom also said Ukraine owes it $1.5 billion.

Crimea still remained a potential flashpoint. Pro-Russian troops who had taken control of the Belbek air base in Crimea fired warning shots into the air Tuesday as around 300 Ukrainian soldiers, who previously manned the airfield, demanded their jobs back.

About a dozen soldiers at the base warned the Ukrainians, who were marching unarmed, not to approach. They fired several warning shots into the air and said they would shoot the Ukrainians if they continued to march toward them.

Park of the same compound was still being held by Ukrainians. "We are worried. But we will not give up our base," said Capt. Nikolai Syomko, an air force radio electrician holding an AK-47 and patrolling the back of the compound. He said the soldiers felt they were being held hostage, caught between Russia and Ukraine.

The new Ukrainian government says troops that have overtaken Belbek and other Ukrainian military bases across Crimea were Russian, but Putin denied it, saying they were self-defense forces answering to Crimea's pro-Russian regional government.

Putin said the 22,000-strong Ukrainian force in Crimea has dissolved and its arsenals have fallen into the hands of the local government. Those officials claimed Tuesday that 5,500 Ukrainian soldiers had switched their allegiance from Kiev to them and said they were seeking to move up a vote planned for March 30 on the region's status.

Russia is demanding the implementation of a Western-sponsored peace deal that Yanukovych signed with the opposition last month that set a new Ukrainian presidential election no later than December. Yanukovych fled the capital hours after the signing and ended up in Russia, and the Ukrainian parliament then set the vote for May 25.

The EU's 28 heads of state and government will hold an emergency meeting Thursday to decide whether to impose sanctions against Russia. John Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who now is director of the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University, told the AP it was a critical time for Europe.

"It's a breach of international law, of national sovereignty, by a major power," Herbst said about Russia's actions in Crimea. "We haven't seen such a breach in Europe since the Nazis."

Sullivan reported from Crimea. Ivan Sekretarev in Sevastopol, Juergen Baetz in Brussels and Raul Gallego in Crimea contributed to this report.

A look at Russian, Ukrainian militaries

March 03, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has effectively seized control of Ukraine's strategic Crimean peninsula without firing a shot, but many in Ukraine and elsewhere fear the Kremlin might follow up by sending troops into Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine. Such a move could trigger open hostilities between the Russian and Ukrainian militaries. Here's a look at the two forces:

RED ARMY HEIRS Both militaries are the successors of the Soviet army and have inherited its arsenals, structure and tactics. Ukraine surrendered its share of Soviet nuclear arsenals to Russia in the early 1990s.

The Russian military is much bigger, at 1 million men, compared to Ukraine's 180,000. The Ukrainian military has an estimated 200 combat aircraft and about 1,100 tanks, while Russia reportedly has about 1,400 combat aircraft and several thousand tanks.

Russia and Ukraine divided the Soviet Black Sea Fleet after the 1991 Soviet collapse. However, Ukraine has struggled to maintain its share of the fleet and has just a few combat-ready ships, far outnumbered by the Russian navy, which has a lease of the Crimean port of Sevastopol until 2042.

UNEQUAL OPPONENTS The Russian military has undergone a major modernization in recent years, receiving large supplies of new weapons and conducting massive exercises. Cash-strapped Ukraine couldn't afford such a buildup and its forces have slowly degraded.

In addition to the funding shortage, the Ukrainian military's readiness was hurt by last year's decision by President Viktor Yanukovych to end conscription and turn the military into a volunteer force. The last wave of conscripts is half way through its one-year term, and their morale could be low. The new Ukrainian government has tried to call up some reservists, but it's unclear whether that will work.

The Russian military has largely recovered from its post-Soviet meltdown, and it recently has run a series of war games unseen since the Cold War times. An exercise involving 150,000 troops, hundreds of tanks and dozens of combat planes has been launched across western Russia just as Russian forces overtook Crimea. President Vladimir Putin attended the maneuvers Monday at a shooting range near St. Petersburg.

DIVIDED LOYALTIES Ukraine's loyalties have been sharply divided between the Russian-speaking east and south, where people favor close ties with Moscow, and the west, where residents want to integrate more closely with the European Union.

Ukraine's armed forces reflect that divide. Units stationed in Russian-speaking regions are mostly manned by local residents who don't necessarily support the new government in Kiev. That raises doubts about their loyalties in case of a military conflict with Russia.

The Ukrainian military's reluctance to confront the Russians became obvious in Crimea, where a newly-named Ukrainian navy chief went over to the pro-Russian local government, a day after his appointment. Regional officials say that thousands of Ukrainian servicemen have done the same, but that claim can't be independently confirmed.

TENSE STANDOFF IN CRIMEA Forces of Russia's Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea and additional Russian troops sent to the peninsula have seized or blocked Ukrainian air bases, air defense missile batteries and other military facilities, and garrisons throughout the region. Ukraine's military acknowledged that "practically all" of its military facilities in Crimea have been surrounded or taken over.

A ferry crossing linking Crimea with Russia has been overtaken by Russian forces, which would allow a quick military buildup in Crimea, if Russia chooses to do so. A narrow strip of land linking the peninsula with mainland Ukraine also has been sealed by armed people.

The Ukrainian military said Russia has recently brought four navy ships from other seas to the Crimean port of Sevastopol. The Russians have demanded that Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea lay down their weapons. Some have agreed and left or joined pro-Russia forces. But others have refused and barricaded themselves at their bases.

Invasion of Ukraine isn't Putin's only option

March 03, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin knows there is little the West can do to get him to reverse his mobilization in Crimea, or to stop him from sending additional troops into other parts of Ukraine. But trade sanctions against Russia could be painful, and there are ways for him to get what he wants — keeping Ukraine from slipping out of his grasp — without ratcheting up the military pressure.

The plan Russia pushed Monday calls on Ukrainian politicians to return to their earlier agreement to form a government of national unity. Importantly, the presidential election under that scenario would be held in December and not in May, as the government formed by victorious protesters has planned.

This would buy the Kremlin time. In the coming months the Ukrainian economy could go into free fall, with the West helpless to stop it. There would be new pressure within Ukraine to turn to Russia. A similar thing happened when Ukrainians grew weary of the pro-Western leaders swept into power by the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Ukraine to return to a Feb. 21 agreement between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his opponents just before Yanukovych fled to Russia and his opponents named a new government. Ironically, that agreement received the blessings of the West, but not Russia, at the time. Lavrov said representatives of Russia-friendly Ukrainian regions should be brought into the new government.

"Instead of a promised national unity government, a 'government of the victors' has been created," he said at U.N. meetings in Geneva. This has been the position of the Kremlin all along, but now it is negotiating from a position of strength.

Russia has taken control of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based. Russian troops controlled all Ukrainian border posts and all military bases on Monday. Putin also has left open the option of sending troops into eastern and southern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians live. "We are talking about protection of our citizens and compatriots," Lavrov said Monday.

This has raised fears in Kiev and the West that Russia will annex these regions as well. The current instability plays into Moscow's hand by making it more difficult for the new government to persuade the International Monetary Fund to provide the billions of dollars in loans that Ukraine needs to avoid default. An IMF delegation was to arrive in Kiev on Tuesday.

Putin cannot afford for Russia to cede influence over Ukraine to the West. The country of 46 million people is an important trade partner, holds pipelines that carry Russian natural gas to Europe and is central to his ambitions of restoring Moscow's influence over much of the former Soviet Union. The Crimean Peninsula is of particular importance, both strategically and sentimentally.

For Russians, Ukraine is part of their history and their faith, and family ties run deep. Ukraine, which became independent with the 1991 Soviet collapse, has always seemed like an artificial state to many Russians, including Putin.

Since three months of protests, which included elements of Ukrainian nationalism, drove the Moscow-supported government out of Kiev, Russian state television has portrayed Ukraine as under threat from "fascists" supported by the West. If Putin were to back down now, Russians would see it as his failure.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said world leaders "are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Russia." Putin is unlikely to be too worried about a threat to kick Russia out of the Group of Eight leading industrial countries, even though he was set to host the next summit in June. He skipped the summit hosted by President Barack Obama in 2012.

Kerry's warning of possible visa bans, asset freezes and penalties on trade and investment, however, may have gotten Putin's attention and most certainly alarmed many of the wealthy businessmen in his circle.

Kerry made clear that if Russia stood down, the U.S. would work with Ukraine's government to make sure Russian interests in Crimea were respected and the naval base was allowed to remain. "We believe there are many alternatives before you get to an invasion, and none of those have been tried at this point in time," Kerry said Sunday on ABC television. He was due in Ukraine on Tuesday to meet with the new government.

While Putin most likely is relishing Russia's ability to strike fear in Kiev and world capitals, Lavrov's statements suggest he might be willing to make a deal that could serve him better in the long run.

Lynn Berry, The Associated Press' news editor for Russia and the CIS, has covered the region since 1995.

An AP News Analysis

Thousands march in pro-invasion rally in Moscow

March 02, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands are marching in a pro-invasion rally in downtown Moscow one day after Russia's parliament gave President Vladimir Putin a green light to use military force in Ukraine.

At least 10,000 people bearing Russian flags marched freely through Moscow on Sunday, while dozens of people demonstrating on Red Square against an invasion of Ukraine were quickly detained by Russian riot police.

The Associated Press witnessed over 50 detentions and spotted at least five police vans, which carry between 15 and 20 protesters, driving away from the square. Many Russians believe the country should maintain strong ties with Ukraine's predominantly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions. But Russia's state-controlled TV stations have ratcheted up that rhetoric after months of pro-democracy protests in Ukraine forced its Russia-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych to flee Ukraine.

Russian troops take over Ukraine's Crimea region

March 02, 2014

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops took over the strategic Crimean peninsula Saturday without firing a shot. The newly installed government in Kiev was powerless to react, and despite calls by U.S. President Barack Obama for Russia to pull back its forces, Western governments had few options to counter Russia's military moves.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sought and quickly got his parliament's approval to use its military to protect Russia's interests across Ukraine. But while sometimes-violent pro-Russian protests broke out Saturday in a number of Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine, Moscow's immediate focus appeared to be Crimea.

Tensions increased when Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, made a late night announcement that he had ordered the country's armed forces to be at full readiness because of the threat of "potential aggression."

Speaking live on Ukrainian TV, Turchynov said he had also ordered stepped up security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure. Ignoring President Barack Obama's warning Friday that "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes militarily, Putin sharply raised the stakes in the conflict over Ukraine's future evoking memories of Cold War brinkmanship.

After Russia's parliament approved Putin's motion, U.S. officials held a high-level meeting at the White House to review Russia's military moves in Ukraine. The White House said Obama spoke with Putin by telephone for 90 minutes and expressed his "deep concern" about "Russia's clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The White House said Obama told Putin that the United States is calling on Russia "to de-escalate tensions by withdrawing its forces back to bases in Crimea and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine."

A statement from the Kremlin said Putin emphasized to Obama the existence of "real threats" to the life and health of Russian citizens and compatriots who are in Ukrainian territory. The statement indicated that Russia might send its troops not only to the Crimea but also to predominantly ethnic Russian regions of eastern Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin emphasized that, in the case of a further spread in violence in eastern regions (of Ukraine) and Crimea, Russia maintains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population that lives there," the Kremlin statement said.

Obama told Putin that he would support sending international monitors to Ukraine to help protect ethnic Russians. He said the U.S. will suspend its participation in preparatory meetings for June's G-8 summit in Sochi, Russia, the site of the recently concluded Winter Olympics, warning that Russia's "continued violation of international law will lead to greater political and economic isolation."

NATO announced a meeting for Sunday of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's political decision-making body, as well as a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the allies will "coordinate closely" on the situation in Ukraine, which he termed "grave."

The U.N. Security Council met in an open, televised session for about a half hour on Saturday afternoon after closed-door consultations, despite initial objections from Russia to an open session. The council heard speeches from a U.N. deputy secretary-general and several ambassadors, but did not take any action.

Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.N. Yuriy Sergeyev asked the Security Council "to do everything possible now" to stop what he called Russian "aggression." Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said the government in Kiev needs to get away from "radicals" and warned, "such actions they're taking could lead to very difficult developments, which the Russian Federation is trying to avoid." He said Russia was intervening at the request of pro-Russian authorities in the autonomous Crimea region that is part of Ukraine.

Calling the situation in Ukraine "as dangerous as it is destabilizing," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said, "It is time for the Russian military intervention in Ukraine to end." She warned that "Russia's provocative actions could easily push the situation beyond the breaking point." She asked that Russia directly engage the Ukraine government and called for international monitors to be sent to Ukraine to observe the situation.

"Russia and the West find themselves on the brink of a confrontation far worse than in 2008 over Georgia," Dmitri Trenin, the director of Carnegie Moscow Center, said in a commentary posted on its website. In Georgia, Russian troops quickly routed the Georgian military after they tried to regain control over the separatist province of South Ossetia that has close ties with Moscow.

The latest moves followed days of scripted, bloodless turmoil on the peninsula, the scene of centuries of wars and seen by Moscow as a crown jewel of the Russian and Soviet empires. What began Thursday with the early-morning takeover of the regional parliament building by mysterious troops continued Saturday afternoon as dozens of those soldiers — almost certainly Russian — moved into the streets around the parliamentary complex and seized control of regional airports, amid street protests by pro-Russian Crimeans calling for Moscow's protection from the new government in Kiev.

That government came to power last week in the wake of months of pro-democracy protests against the now-fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, and his decision to turn Ukraine toward Russia, its longtime patron, instead of the European Union. Despite the calls for Moscow's help, there has been no sign of ethnic Russians facing attacks in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine.

Obama on Friday called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor's political upheaval. He said such action by Russia would represent a "profound interference" in matters he said should be decided by the Ukrainian people. He has not said, however, how the U.S. could pressure Moscow to step back from its intervention.

The Russian parliament urged that Moscow recall its ambassador in Washington in response to Obama's speech. On Friday, Ukraine accused Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" in the Crimea, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk called on Moscow "to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," according to the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine."

Ukraine's population of 46 million is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea, a semi-autonomous region that Russia gave to Ukraine in the 1950s, is mainly Russian-speaking.

In his address to parliament, Putin said the "extraordinary situation in Ukraine" was putting at risk the lives of Russian citizens and military personnel stationed at the Crimean naval base that Moscow has maintained since the Soviet collapse.

Despite Putin's sharp move, there were possible signs Saturday that the Russian leader could soften his approach. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was freed a week ago after more than 2 ½ years in prison, was reported to be heading to Moscow for a meeting with Putin on Monday, though her spokeswoman denied that. Putin has had good ties with Tymoshenko in the past, and he may look to her for a possible compromise.

In a statement posted on her party's web site, Tymoshenko urged the U.N. Security Council to meet in Kiev and asked the EU leaders to convene a meeting in Crimea. She urged the West to help protect Ukraine's territorial integrity, asked Ukrainians to remain calm and voiced hope that diplomacy will succeed.

Putin's parliamentary motion loosely refers to the "territory of Ukraine" rather than specifically to Crimea, raising the possibility that Moscow could use military force in other Russian-speaking areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, where many detest the new authorities in Kiev.

But in a note of restraint, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said the motion doesn't mean the president would immediately send additional troops to Ukraine. "There is no talk about it yet," he said.

Pro-Russian protests were reported Saturday in the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern port of Odessa. In Kharkiv, 97 people were injured in clashes between pro-Russia demonstrators who flushed supporters of the new Ukrainian government out of the regional government building and hoisted the Russian flag on top of it, according to the Interfax news agency.

Trenin, of Moscow's Carnegie office, said that Putin could be seeking to "include Crimea within the Russian Federation and eastern and southern regions of Ukraine forming a separate entity integrated with Russia economically and aligned with it politically."

"It is not clear at this point whether Kiev will be left to build a rump Ukraine with the western regions or whether it will be swayed to join the eastern regions," he wrote. In Crimea, the new pro-Russian prime minister — who came to power after the gunmen swept into parliament on Thursday — claimed control of the military and police and asked Putin for help in keeping peace. There was no visible presence of Ukrainian troops Saturday.

The deputy premier in the Crimean government told Russian news agency RIA Novsti that Ukrainian troops were disarmed and others joined the Crimean people to help patrol the territory. The report couldn't immediately be confirmed.

Crimean Tatars, the historic hosts of the land who make up 12 percent of the island's population and stand strongly for Crimea remaining part of Ukraine, didn't put up any visible resistance Saturday.

"The last two or three days have turned around the life of all the people in Crimea," said Refat Chubarov, a Crimean Tatar leader. "They've taken over military bases and civil institutions. That's why Crimean society is filled with fear. People are afraid of everyone and everything."

Crimea only became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the Soviet Union. The Soviet breakup in 1991 meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt summed the situation up simply: "What's happening in Crimea is a Russian takeover. There is no doubt about that," he told Swedish Radio. "Russian military forces are involved and there has been a local takeover of power."

Russia put pressure on Ukraine from another direction when a spokesman for state gas company Gazprom said that Ukraine owed $1.59 billion in overdue bills for imported gas. Sergei Kuprianov said in a statement carried by Russian news wires that the gas arrears would endanger a recent discount granted by Russia.

The Russian payment demand and loss of the discount would accelerate Ukraine's financial crisis. The country is almost broke and seeking emergency credit from the International Monetary Fund. The tensions barely touched everyday life in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea, or anywhere on the peninsula. Children played on swings a few blocks from the parliament building, and most of the city's stores were open. Couples walked hand-in-hand through parks. Crimea's airports — civilian and military — were closed to air traffic, but trains and cars were moving to and from the Ukrainian mainland. The civilian airport in Simferopol was reopened late Saturday night.

"Things are normal," said Olga Saldovskaia, who was walking through town with her son and grandson. While she doesn't like having gunmen in the streets, like many people in this overwhelmingly ethnic Russian city, she also found their presence reassuring.

"If anyone tries to hurt the people here, they will protect us," said Saldovskaia. She said she sympathized with the pro-democracy protesters in Kiev, but also worries that turmoil in the capital could lead to violence against ethnic Russians. She added, though, that she definitely doesn't want Crimea to become part of Russia.

"Russia is not just all flowers and candy," she said. Moscow has remained silent on claims that Russian troops are already in control of much of the peninsula, saying any troop movements are within agreed-upon rules governing the semi-autonomous Ukrainian region.

Meanwhile, flights remained halted at Simferopol's airport. Dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings patrolled the area. They didn't stop or search people leaving or entering the airport, and refused to talk to journalists.

AP journalists crossing into Crimea from mainland Ukraine were briefly stopped at a checkpoint manned by troops in unmarked camouflage uniforms as well as officers in uniforms of the Berkut, the feared riot police that cracked down on anti-Yanukovych protesters before he fled the capital a week ago.

Vladimir Isachenkov reported from Moscow. AP reporters Karl Ritter and David McHugh in Kiev, Julia Subbotovska in Simferopol, and Cara Anna at the United Nations contributed to this report.