Head of Ukraine's navy defects to pro-Russian Crimea [View all]

[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.