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UKRAINE HAS ANNOUNCED plans to drop out of a key post-Soviet alliance and slap entry visas on Russians, while also preparing for a possible Crimean withdrawal following the Kremlin’s absorption of the peninsula.
Meanwhile, Russia has requested that commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s navy be be released, having earlier been detained by Crimean officials.
Kiev’s first firm response to Russia’s claim to the strategic Black Sea peninsula came as a deadline expired on an ultimatum set by the acting president for Crimea’s separatist leaders to release the captured head of the Ukrainian navy or face “an adequate response”
“Gravest threat”
The spiralling crisis prompted the White House to warn Russia it was “creating a dangerous situation” and the NATO commander to call the Kremlin’s seizure of Crimea “the gravest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War”.
“Our major concern right now is whether he (President Vladimir Putin) will go beyond Crimea, whether Russia will intervene in the eastern parts. . .” of Ukraine, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during an event in Washington.
Denouncing the moves in the Crimean peninsula as “military aggression,” Rasmussen said Russia’s actions were part of a long-running pattern across the region to block nations from forging ties with the West.
“Wake-up call”
“This is a wake-up call,” he said, “For the Euro-Atlantic community. For NATO. And for all those committed to a Europe whole, free and at peace.”
US officials have said they are reviewing a request from Kiev for military support, including arms, ammunition and non-lethal equipment.
So far Washington has only agreed to provide military rations to Ukraine.
Pro-Russian forces had earlier seized two Crimean navy bases and detained Ukraine’s naval chief as Moscow tightened its grip on the flashpoint peninsula despite Western warnings that its “annexation” would not go unpunished.
Black Sea
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers filed out of Ukraine’s main navy headquarters in the historic Black Sea port city of Sevastopol after it was stormed by hundreds of pro-Kremlin protesters and masked Russian troops.
The local prosecutor’s office said Ukraine’s navy commander Sergiy Gayduk — appointed after his predecessor switched allegiance in favour of Crimea’s pro-Kremlin authorities at the start of the month — had been detained on suspicion of “ordering Ukrainian military units… to open fire on peaceful civilians”.
Crimean self-defense forces member walks in the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea. (Andrew Lubimov/AP/Press Association Images)
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said he had “asked the leaders of the Crimean Republic to release the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s naval forces… and not to prevent his departure for Ukraine,” according to a statement.
Gayduk’s capture delivered a huge blow to efforts by the new team of untested pro-Western leaders in Kiev to impose some authority in their crisis-hit country in the face of an increasingly assertive Kremlin.
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No way are these inmates afraid to talk to inspectors, they are experts at manipulation and complaining, and the “prison watchdog” will run with it to justify its existence and big salaries.
@Raymond Barry: experts at complaining? Sure they’re only trotting after you.
It appears to me that to say that a black prisoner is a ‘raisin in a bowl of rice’ is not racist, not even a micro aggression, just a rather poetic way of referring to a difference in a prison where no more than 8% of prisoners were from ethnic minorities. But, as my mother taught me, ‘It is easy to sleep on another man’s wound’.
@Patrick Brompton: nah, it’s racist.
@Mac Muinteoir: It is absolutely not racist!! Get a grip!
What a load of b…Ollix.
Prison officers.. the highest paid unskilled (sorry 6 weeks training doesn’t qualify as skilled workforce) in the country ..
@Paul Doyle: you do it so
@Paul Doyle: If it’s so easy Paul to get the highest salary with no input then tell me why you didn’t jump feet first to secure this lucrative job or maybe the fact it takes three years including work placements, probationary period and obtaining a higher certificate in custodial care and practice might have put you off, not to mention that thousands apply for these positions when recruitment commences and not all are suitable or have the professionalism , tolerance or maturity to deal with society’s most offensive individuals. Frankly I don’t think they are paid well enough for what they do, at least at some stage the prisoners get out while the officers do life to the point of retirement.
@Honeybee: thousands apply for exactly the reasons I mentioned above
@Paul Doyle: there all guarda rejects and messed up army recruits
@Paul Doyle: lol nonsense.
A 3rd level qualification in Custodial Care is now required, along with Control & Restraint training & 3yrs training as a Recruit Prison Officer before they become Prison Officers.
Speaking about a job you clearly understand nothing about, would seem a little ignorant & uneducated to me Paul. A very tough job dealing with some very dangerous & violent individuals, keeping you safe.
@Ellie Mae: shameful insult to my husband who is neither thanks very much – seems you’re actually a school reject Ellie Mae – it’s Guard or Garda
@Ellie Mae: they’re,not there,Garda,not Guarda……….sounds like someone failed to get past the written exam,the procedure for recruitment is a very thorough process ,the IPS don’t go out and trawl the streets looking for candidates,they have a very deep pool to choose from,now run along and get the last of your Christmas presents and keep your sarky comments to yourself.
@Paul Doyle: you need to know the job before you comment on how un skilled it is.
I suggest you should apply for the job to get you off the armchair and then come back and inform the public how un skilled it is.
@Pádraig O’Faolain: I’m sure he’d be the best warden in the world,he just can’t get past the first part of the exam…..Q1.Name.
Excessive political correctness, just like Papal infallibly is a curse, not a blessing.
Wouldn’t have happened with Gypsy Joe in charge
@Robert O’Neill: leave that poor man alone he was my hero
have your say