Crimea crisis: Pro-Russians seize Sevastopol Ukraine naval base

Several Ukrainian servicemen have left, the Russia flag is flying and there are reports that Ukrainian navy chief Serhiy Hayduk has been detained.

It comes a day after Crimean leaders signed a treaty with Moscow absorbing the peninsula into Russia.

Sunday's referendum on splitting from Ukraine has been widely condemned.

Crimean and Russian officials say the vote showed overwhelming public support for joining Russia, with 97% of voters in favour.

But the West and the Ukrainian government in Kiev say the referendum - organised in two weeks and boycotted by many of Crimea's Ukrainian and Tatar minorities - was illegal, and the results will not be recognised.

On Wednesday, Russia's constitutional court approved the accession treaty as legal.

The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says there is no doubt that Russia's parliament will give its full backing to the treaty when it votes on Friday.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh has reportedly been ordered to head to Crimea, where Ukrainian troops are vastly outnumbered by Russian forces.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Crimea's Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, who is in Moscow, as saying: "Nobody will let them into Crimea, they will be sent back."...

Source: News in Hindi

From BBC News