XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: nancy-pelosi-thief@barackobama.com   
      
   IEV, Ukraine — The embattled new government of Ukraine accused   
   Russian forces of a major escalation in military pressure over   
   control of the Crimean Peninsula on Monday, saying Russia had   
   deployed 16,000 troops in the region over the last week and had   
   demanded that Ukrainian forces there surrender within hours or   
   face armed assault.   
      
   Russia denied it had issued any ultimatum but was clearly moving   
   to strengthen its grip on Crimea, brushing aside new admonitions   
   from President Obama and European leaders of economic punishment   
   and isolation.   
      
   At the United Nations, where the Security Council met for the   
   third time in emergency session since Friday, the Ukrainian   
   ambassador, Yuriy Sergeyev, distributed a three-page letter   
   asserting that the Russians had sent 16,000 troops into the   
   Crimean Peninsula since Feb. 24.   
      
   The troops, Mr. Sergeyev wrote, had moved to “seize, block and   
   control crucial governmental and military objects of Ukraine in   
   Crimea.”   
      
   The Interfax-Ukrainian news agency quoted an unidentified   
   Ukrainian Defense Ministry official as saying that Russia’s   
   Black Sea Fleet commander had set a deadline of 5 a.m. Tuesday —   
   10 p.m. Monday, Eastern time — for Ukrainian forces stationed in   
   Crimea to lay down their weapons, and many Ukrainian soldiers   
   seemed to take the threat seriously. Russia’s Interfax news   
   agency said the Black Sea Fleet had no such plans.   
      
   Still, the conflicting reports only further served to worsen   
   tensions in the Ukraine crisis, which has grown drastically in   
   the past few weeks to a new confrontation between Russia and the   
   West reminiscent of low points in the Cold War.   
      
   Russia has denied Western accusations that it flouted   
   international law in asserting military control in Crimea, a   
   historically Russian region that is home to its Black Sea naval   
   base. The Russians have asserted that they moved to protect   
   their legitimate interests there after President Viktor F.   
   Yanukovych fled more than a week ago after protests in Kiev that   
   reflected opposition to his shift toward closer relations with   
   Russia.   
      
   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/world/europe/ukraine.html?_r=0   
      
       
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)