Why are the Russian troops in Crimea without ensignia or otherwise identifying markings?

[AnalystInParadise]

19. Easy three main reasons

1. Unidentified soldiers can engage in war crimes without being identified. It shows Russia's level of comfort in the fact that they can have unidentified soldiers in the battlespace. They aren't worried about future repercussions.

2. Not giving away units identification keeps the Ukrainians in the dark as to which units of the Russian military are already deployed. This keeps the Ukrainians guessing as to the combat strength, size and battle prowess of the units already in country. In other words are these dude reservists that we should ignore and let them run around, or are they front line Spetsnaz that are pre-deploying and we should take them out now? The Ukrainians don't know and if they guess wrong either way, it could cost them.

3. Perhaps they are not soldiers, but skin heads, Russian nationalists, militia members etc. If they are captured, they cause Russia no political embarrassment since they are not decked out in Russian uniforms with unit patches and other identifying symbols.