The Ukrainian government has just fired Denys Berezovsky the Ukraine navy chief because he had offered to surrender Ukraine’s Sevastopol naval forces to Russia.
Mr Berezovsky defected to Russia just one day after the Ukrainian government appointed him – and just hours after the government declared they still had a full fleet of 10 loyal ships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
Denis Berezovsky was shown on Russian television swearing allegiance to the pro-Russian regional leaders of Crimea. Russian forces have seized the Black Sea peninsula and told Ukrainian forces there to give up their weapons.
“During the blockade by Russian forces of the central headquarters of the navy, he declined to offer resistance and laid down his weapons,” said Viktoria Syumar, deputy secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council.
“The prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal case against Denis Berezovsky under statute 111: state treason,” she said. Another admiral, Serhiy Hayduk, was placed in charge of the navy.