March 14, 2014, Moscow (AFP) – A United States surveillance drone has been intercepted above the Ukranian region of Crimea, a Russian state arms and technology group said Friday.
“The drone was flying at about 4,000 metres (12,000 feet) and was virtually invisible from the ground. It was possible to break the link with US operators with complex radio-electronic” technology, said Rostec in a statement.
The drone fell “almost intact into the hands of self-defence forces” added Rostec, which said it had manufactured the equipment used to down the aircraft, but did not specify who was operating it.
“Judging by its identification number, UAV MQ-5B belonged to the 66th American Reconnaissance Brigade, based in Bavaria,” Rostec said on its website, which also carried a picture of what it said was the captured drone.
The photograph appeared to show an apparently armed drone in flight, rather than debris.
The Crimean port of Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is believed to be equipped with detection equipment.
Crimea, where pro-Kremlin forces have control, is to hold a referendum on Sunday on the peninsula joining Russia, in what Moscow says is a fair expression of self identity but the West views as an illegal annexation of sovereign territory.
Source: AFP
Russia and the West fail in last minute Ukraine talks
John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov reach no agreement on the Ukraine crisis, with the Russians saying they would respect an independence referendum in Crimea and the Americans vowing to impose sanctions if they do.
Russia and the West were on a collision course on Friday night after the failure of an 11th-hour attempt to settle the confrontation over Ukraine.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, gave warning that Moscow will now suffer “consequences” when six hours of talks with his Russian counterpart broke up without agreement.
After this meeting at the US ambassador’s residence in London, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, described the Ukrainian region of Crimea as being “immeasurably more important for Russia than the Falklands for the United Kingdom”.
The failure of the talks means that a referendum on Crimea joining Russia will proceed on Sunday. European Union foreign ministers are then expected to meet on Monday and impose travel bans and asset freezes on between 120 and 130 powerful Russians linked to the Kremlin.
Moscow on Friday night claimed it had “intercepted” a US drone over Crimea. However, the statement, which was published by Rostec – the Russian state arms and technology group – was later removed from the organisation’s website and the report was firmly denied by the Pentagon.
Russia, meanwhile, is believed to have deployed about 80,000 troops near Ukraine’s eastern frontier. The foreign ministry in Moscow raised fears of a full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine by reserving Russia’s “right” to intervene to protect its citizens.
Mr Kerry had asked Mr Lavrov for an assurance that Moscow would not annex Crimea after the referendum. He also wanted Russia to reverse its military build-up near Ukraine’s eastern border, open direct talks with the country’s new leaders and allow international observers into Crimea.
No progress was made on any of these points. Mr Kerry described the meeting as “very direct, very cordial and frank”, adding that Mr Lavrov had “made it clear that President Putin is not prepared to make any decisions regarding Ukraine until after the referendum”.
Russian forces stand guard next to an armoured vehicle at a checkpoint on a highway near the town of Dzhankoy, in the border area between Crimea and the Kherson region of Ukraine, on March 14, 2014.
Mr Kerry voiced concern “about the large deployments of Russian forces” in Crimea and on Ukraine’s eastern frontier. “There will be consequences if Russia does not find a way to change course,” he said.If Russia annexes Crimes, this would “fly in the face of” every effort to resolve the crisis, he added, and the US would not recognise the outcome of the “illegal” referendum.
Mr Kerry accepted that Moscow had “legitimate interests in Ukraine”, but condemned Russia’s de facto seizure of its neighbour’s territory as a “breach of international law and a challenge, frankly, to the global standard of how nations have been called on to behave”.
Mr Lavrov, for his part, said that “no measures are being taken to provide security and order” in Ukraine and curb the “radicals” who, he claimed, had seized power in Kiev during last month’s revolution.
On the status of Crimea, he said that Russia would “respect the will of the people of Crimea that will be expressed in the referendum”. This plebiscite allows only two options: joining Russia immediately or empowering the Crimean parliament to decide to join Russia later. The status quo, whereby Crimea is an autonomous region of Ukraine, is not on offer.
Mr Lavrov ruled out “direct contact” with Ukraine’s new government, saying: “This crisis was not caused by Russia.”
Mr Lavrov highlighted a clash on Friday between pro and anti-Russian protesters in Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk, which claimed one life, saying this was a “horrible situation”.
He noted that his ministry had reserved Russia’s “right” to intervene to protect its citizens. However, Mr Lavrov added: “The Russian government has no plans for military intrusion into eastern Ukraine.”
As for the sanctions that EU foreign ministers are expected to impose, Mr Lavrov described them as a “counterproductive instrument” that “certainly won’t be helpful in our mutual interests”.
In Crimea, the territory’s leader predicted that union with Russia could happen next week, although full integration into the Russian Federation would take about a year.
“I am absolutely sure that the people of Crimea will vote for the first question – that is, becoming a federal subject of the Russian federation,” said Sergei Aksyonov, the pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea.
However, a significant number of Crimea’s people have no wish to join Russia. The Tatar community, comprising at least 12 per cent of the population, have bitter memories of their deportation at the hands of the Soviet Union in the 1940s.
Refat Chubarov, the head of the Mejlis, an assembly of Crimean Tatars, has urged a boycott of the referendum, which Ukraine’s own Supreme Court has condemned as “illegal”.
But Mr Aksyonov dismissed such criticism, declaring the vote an expression of national self-determination and denying that the presence of thousands of Russian troops would affect the contest. “I don’t see any gun barrels around here,” he said.
“Chubarov does not speak for the Crimean Tatar people – he speaks for the Mejlis,” added Mr Aksyonov. “There are many Tatars who do not agree with that body, and we believe at least half of the Tatar population will vote.”
Mr Aksyonov said he would respect any decision made in the referendum, but the position of his government is clear. The Russian flag is already flying over the Council of Ministers and Parliament buildings in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.
Russian troops, backed by local volunteers and Cossacks, have blockaded Ukrainian forces inside their bases and established a de facto border between the peninsula and mainland Ukraine.
While Mr Aksyonov and his supporters claim overwhelming support for joining Russia, queues have formed at banks across Crimea as people withdraw their savings. The prime minister tried to allay these fears yesterday, promising to guarantee deposits from the regional budget. “Not a single private client will lose a kopeck,” he said.
But Mr Aksyonov refused to say whether Moscow had made any specific promises of financial support for Crimea.
Meanwhile, thousands of Tatars gathered for demonstrations against the referendum.
”We’re here because we want peace, we don’t want a war, and we don’t want to live in Putin’s Russia,” said Sivin Medvedeva, a young mother who turned out for a demonstration beside the Feodsia highway.
”My husband is an ethnic Russian, and he has no doubts either: we know what Putin’s Russia is like and we don’t want to live there.”
Source: Telegraph source ( http://ayyaantuu.com/world/russia-says-intercepted-us-drone-over-crimea-arms-group/ )
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