WASHINGTON POST: With unrest growing in the Crimea over Ukraine’s political transformation, a group of armed men seized the local parliament and the regional government headquarters in Simferopol early Thursday morning, barricaded themselves inside both buildings and raised Russian flags, news services reported. They were reported to be wearing plain uniforms without designating marks. The Interfax news agency quoted a local authority as saying the men were from a Crimean self-defense group. Rival groups clashed in Ukraine’s Crimea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered major military exercises just across the border. The unrest continues as Ukraine’s protest leaders propose prominent lawmaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister. Rival groups clashed in Ukraine’s Crimea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered major military exercises just across the border. The unrest continues as Ukraine’s protest leaders propose prominent lawmaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister. MORE
WASHINGTON POST:The takeover, in the regional capital of Simferopol, brings tensions in the Crimea to a new high, just hours after thousands of ethnic Russians there had protested against the new government in Kiev, while Crimean Tatars rallied in its support. It also came after Moscow ordered surprise military exercises in a district bordering Ukraine and put troops in the region on high alert. The developments stoked concerns about divided loyalties in Ukraine and raised the question of Russian military intervention, which Secretary of State John F. Kerry said would be a “grave mistake.” Russia insisted that the exercises were routine. The country’s interim authorities presented their list of nominees for a new cabinet, to be headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, one of the three political leaders who helped maintain the protest movement over the course of the past three months. Neither of the other two — Vitali Klitschko, a former boxing champion who is running for president in a May election, or Oleh Tiahnybok, a member of the nationalist All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” party — was on the list. The roster was approved in consultations with a self-organized council of protesters from the Maidan, or Kiev’s Independence Square, but was greeted with little enthusiasm by the thousands gathered there. “Too many politicians. We don’t trust anyone,” said Svetlana Kravtsova, 50. “We need to see real people.” MORE
WASHINGTON POST: Yanukovych hasn’t been definitively spotted in public since Friday. But a Russian newspaper, RBK, reported that he had been seen in Moscow on Tuesday night and that he moved Wednesday to a villa in the city’s most exclusive suburb, Barvikha. Various Russian officials denied the report or refused to comment on it. MORE