Ukraine crisis: Russians fire warning shots in Crimea as Kerry flies in

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is due to fly into Kiev to show support for the new government in Ukraine as tensions continue to build in Crimea.

Pro-Russian troops who had taken control of an air base in Belbek fired warning shots into the air as Ukrainian soldiers marched towards them.

Russian soldiers guarding the Crimean airfield warned the group of about 300 Ukrainians, who were unarmed, not to approach. They fired several warning shots into the air and said they would open fire if they continued to march towards them.

Meanwhile the Kremlin has ordered Russian troops who were on exercises near Ukraine's eastern border to return to their barracks.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine's Crimean region has so far been bloodless despite tense standoffs and threats from both sides. A supposed Russian ultimatum for two Ukrainian warships to surrender passed without action from either side on Tuesday morning.

The warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Tuesday, a day after Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russian forces had issued an ultimatum for the ships to surrender or be seized. Russian defence ministry spokesman Vladimir Anikin said on Monday that no ultimatum had been issued.

On Monday night the US suspended all military engagements with Russia, including exercises and port visits, in response to Moscow sending troops into Crimea.

The announcement from the Pentagon came a few hours after Barack Obama warned that the US government would look at economic and diplomatic sanctions that would isolate Moscow over Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. The US also put trade and investment talks with Russia on hold.

Russia's ambassador to the UN claimed on Monday that the fugitive Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had requested that Russian soldiers be sent to Crimea "to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order". Vitaly Churkin told a UN security council meeting that Yanukovych wrote to Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

France's ambassador to the UN, Gérard Araud, said the letter was just a piece of paper handed to Yanukovych which "got his signature". Asked if the letter was phony, Araud replied: "It's not a false letter, it's a false president."

Late on Monday night, a Kremlin-linked analyst and member of Russia's Public Chamber who was in Crimea for talks with local officials, said he believed that there would be an "escalation of pressure" on Ukrainian forces on Tuesday, but no military action. Sergei Markov said the troops on bases would be reminded that "life will be difficult for them" in future if they remain loyal to Ukraine now.

Russian troops, said to be 16,000 strong, tightened their grip on the Crimean peninsula on Monday and control all Crimean border posts, as well as military facilities in the territory and a ferry terminal in the city of Kerch, just 12 miles (20km) across the water from Russia.

On Tuesday morning Putin told troops massed along the Russian side of the Ukrainian border to return to their permanent bases after calling a snap drill last week to check their battle-readiness.

"The commander-in-chief, President Vladimir Putin, gave the order to the troops and units taking part in military exercises to return to their permanent bases," his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian news agencies.

The drill involved army, navy and air force troops based in the central and western military districts, a vast territory that includes regions bordering Ukraine but also the Arctic.

The drill did not include any regions beyond Russia's borders such as Crimea.

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, had said the drill would include military exercises "on Russia's borders with other countries, including Ukraine".

The drill, which was scheduled to finish on Monday, came shortly before Russian security forces began operating covertly in Crimea and Putin gained parliamentary approval for military intervention.

Moscow has insisted that its military presence in Ukraine is essential for the protection of Russian-speakers in Crimea, threatened by the pro-European revolution in Kiev.

The disclosure of Yanukovych's support for Russian military intervention came amid fears that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine.

Russia faced demands from almost all UN security council members to pull its troops out of Crimea and there was no support for military action from its close ally China. Several EU states, including the UK, have said they are considering economic sanctions against Russia.

A Kremlin aide said on Tuesday that if the US were to impose sanctions, Moscow could be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to American banks.

Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to the Kremlin – often used by the authorities to stake out a hardline stance but does not make policy – added that if Washington froze the accounts of Russian businesses and individuals, Moscow would recommend that all holders of US treasuries sell them.

(The Guardian)