There're a lot of rumors and little information about who they might be, Crimean milita I guess. Stormig is overexaggerating, they just walked in.

The fact that Crimea will show some pro-Russian sentiments is no-brainer. The official information is... they will hold referendum about Crimean legal status this May. Sevastopol, a Russian naval base and special administrative region of Ukraine, already voted for a new mayor (or whatever the actual title is), violating existing procedures btw. New mayor happens to be a Russian citizen.

I'm not sure what our (by "our" I mean Russia) position is going to be. From here it looks like Putin will try to keep Ukraine in one piece, therefore the best Crimea could hope is back to Constitution of 1992 (the right to elect its own president and form its own government and all that stuff), which is not that bad at all. But that would require stabilization in entire Ukraine, otherwise rats inevitably will try to flee sinking ship and take their own chances.

//Apparantly these are the very same masked gentelmen? There's information that some armed people have blocked airports and Ukrainian military bases as well.

The Soviet Union returns. The empire strikes back.

Great time to cut military spending to WW2 levels as we are surrounded by our enemies.

After reading some Ukrainian forums it appears that Kiev is accusing Russia of using military force :D

From what I understood, armed men with no insignia appear here and there over the Crimea taking control of gov. buildings, airports, roads etc. and nobody gives a f**k. One thing is known for sure, these are not Nazis, they are too polite, people say, hence the mem "polite and armed".

But that's rumors, nothing is official.

Digging some more.

It's a silent invasion! :D

Honestly, I'm loosing the thread of what's going on.

This video is golden!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGltoJxxQU

 The 'peaceful protesters' come to speak with a regional prosecutor in Rovno. This is the new Ukraine authorities. By the way, today they mentioned that they want to have nuclear weaponry. Hopefully in 1-2 weeks this guys will be back in jail...

You need to "use old embed code."

This whole mess wouldn't be a bad opportunity for some border correction, though it would have to take under the auspices of an internationally-overseen plebiscite. Let the ethnic Russians who live on Russia's border be actual Russians (along with the Crimeans, who were supposed to be anyway until a last-minute change near the dissolution of the USSR). Or at least federalize like Bosnia/Belgium did and Yemen is doing.

You know, the thing is not about the borders. The thing is that so called 'Ukraines' are 90% Russians. I was on Ukraine a lot of times in a different regions and it was always very friendly people around with a great communications. (Belarus - too, but Belarus didn't lose its mind) And its painful to see now this beatifull land and people ripped apart by some criminals and 'wannabe uropeanz'.

Oh boy, Jacob Kedmi is right, you do not understand anything in what's going on. Do not blame you, it took me years of practice to grasp a little understanding of the mess they call politics in Ukraine :D

First of all, who cares about borders? If Saakashvili would have sit tight on his butt, he would have still could call Abkhazia and South Ossetia a Georgian territory and not lie. Second, what is ethnic Russian? I'm ethnic Russian? Half Tatar, half Jewish. You usually become ethnic Russian elsewhere. Besides in Ukriane national self-indentification (Russian or Ukrainian) greatly depends on the current political situation :D which makes any kind of polls virtually useless. If Marco Polo would have travelled to China through territory of modern Ukraine, he'd have probably considered Ukrainian by the nationalists :D Matter of perspective, even if it's ridiculous one.

That's Sashko Bilyi. The only question I have to FSB is why he's still alive. Are we short on iceaxes?

//More photos and videos of "polite people" invading Crimea:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?236005-Situation-in-Crimea-*Photos-Videos*

It seems like Russia is seizing military control of Crimea right under the noses of the revolutionary government and the western observers.

That's kinda sassy.