Vice News reporter sneaks into Ukrainian naval base

The Russian ‘occupation’ of the Crimean peninsular in Ukraine has gone on so far without a single shot being fired. It has been a week and the standoff seems to be leading to nothing, as if only time will reveal something nobody else knows. There are probably two obvious reasons for this.

Firstly, the sheer might of the Russian military compared to the Ukrainian is just to huge. Secondly, it seems that there are huge numbers of Russian sympathisers in the country, not just amongst civilians, but also in the Ukrainian military.

Vice News, a New York-based online media organisation, recently sent reporter, Simon Ostrovsky, and a cameraman into Crimea. In the first video (out of two, so far), Ostrovsky managed to witness, what he claims to be, an eerily-peaceful negotiation between a Ukrainian commander and an apparently Russian commander (who is wearing a uniform with no insignia).

In the second video, Ostrovsky sneaks into a Ukrainian naval base that is being blockaded by pro-Russian civilians. Inside, he sees a number of people in non-Ukrainian military fatigue but with no insignia on their uniform. He is told that they just entered the base the night before and are now just wandering around with their weapons.

Ostrovsky believes that they are Russian troops. He is also told by members of the Ukrainian navy that their admiral had switched sides to the Russians only yesterday and the men who stayed behind have decided to remain loyal to Ukraine.

The ‘occupation’ of Russia in Ukraine came after weeks of public protests in the capital Kiev over the people’s unhappiness that their government had decided to abandon an EU Association Agreement, an effort to slowly be integrated in to the European Union, in favour of forging stronger ties with Russia.

The protests turned bloody and international reports mentioned more than 70 people being killed. Eventually, President Viktor Yanukovych had to flee the presidential palace to Russia and Russian troops entered the country on 1st March.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his government recognises Yanukovych as Ukraine’s rightful leader, hence sending troops into the country is legit as they have received an official call for the protection of its citizens from Yanukovych.

The situation in Ukraine is now seen as the biggest stand-off between Russia and the West since the Cold War era. US Secretary of State John Kerry is currently in the midst of official talks with his Russian counterpart in order to find a solution to the situation.

There are now talks that international sanctions might be put in place against Russia and threats of certain country leaders boycotting the 2014 G8 Summit which is scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia, this coming June.