Pro-Moscow Separatists Declare 'Provisional Govt.' in Donetsk as U.S. Says May 'Reexamine' Europe Military Presence
Hundreds of pro-Russians remained holed up Tuesday inside the Donetsk administration building in eastern Ukraine a day after proclaiming the creation of a sovereign "people's republic" and demanding that an independence referendum be held before May 11, as the U.S. said Russia's takeover of Crimea could prompt it to review its military presence in Europe.
"We have formed a provisional government in Donetsk," separatist leader Vadym Chernyakov told Agence France Presse inside the occupied building.
The 33-year-old said his forces intended to control the region's airport and railway stations in order to "maintain order."
The heart of Donetsk itself was a mesh of razor wire and hastily-assembled barricades of old tires that could be set on fire in case the riot police decided to mount an assault on the regional government seat.
In another development, Ukraine's state security service said on Tuesday that pro-Russian separatists who had seized one of its regional headquarters had mined the building and were holding 60 people "hostage."
The SBU security service said it had "established" that militants in the heavily Russified city of Lugansk had rigged the building with explosives after seizing it on Sunday and releasing several suspects that Ukrainian authorities had accused of trying to stage a coup.
"The Lugansk separatists have mined the SBU building and taken 60 hostages," the security service said in a statement.
"Threatening them with weapons and explosives, the separatists are holding 60 people against their will, not letting them leave the building and return home."
The SBU did not explain why it was making the announcement two days after the actual raid.
The Russian militants have refused to allow any media inside the building and it was unclear how the SBU knew that its regional headquarters had been mined.
The Lugansk raid occurred on the same day that militants had also taken control of the main administration offices of the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk.
Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday that Russia's takeover of Crimea could prompt a review of the U.S. military presence in Europe, which has declined steadily since the end of the Cold War.
"While we do not seek confrontation with Russia, its actions in Europe and Eurasia may require the United States to re-examine our force posture in Europe and our requirement for future deployments, exercises, and training in the region," said Assistant Secretary of Defense Derek Chollet.
Some 67,000 U.S. military members are currently stationed on the European continent, mainly in Germany (40,000), Italy (11,000) and Britain (9,500).
When the Soviet Union fell in late 1991, the total presence stood at 285,000.
Chollet, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, did not specify what such a re-examination could entail at a time when the Pentagon faces budget cuts and is seeking to redeploy part of its resources to the Asia Pacific region as part of a so-called pivot strategy.
"Russia's unlawful military intervention in Ukraine challenges our vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace," he said.
"It changes Europe's security landscape. It causes instability on NATO's borders. And it is a challenge to the international order."
To reassure Eastern European NATO members, Washington has already deployed six F-15s as reinforcement to the Baltics, as well as 12 F-16s and three transport planes to Poland.
A guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald-Cook, is due to arrive in the Black Sea in the coming days.
The seizure of local administration buildings in Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine was "very concerning," Chollet said, adding that Washington did not believe them to be "spontaneous demonstrations."
"Moving into eastern Ukraine would clearly be a very serious escalation of this crisis," he said.
In his written testimony, Chollet said pressure from Moscow is not confined to Ukraine.
"Moldova, for example, has Russian forces on its territory, nominally peacekeepers, but who actually support the separatist Transnistria region."
NATO's top commander, the US General Philip Breedlove, expressed concern at the end of March about the large Russian troop presence along Ukraine's border, fearing it could lead to an intervention by Moscow in Transnistria.
Source: Agence France Presse
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