Russia on Saturday ordered an escort for Ukrainian soldiers leaving Crimea as the loss of Ukraine's lone submarine was reported, according to dpa. Moscow's offer, made after its internationally condemned annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula this week, is aimed at 61 members of a paratrooper brigade who arrived in Crimea for exercises in February and want to resume their service in the Ukrainian army. The pro-Moscow leadership in Crimea had demanded that the soldiers leave behind their equipment in return for being allowed to depart, but Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered that the soldiers could leave Crimea with their own vehicles. They are to be escorted to the border by Russian military police. At the same time, unconfirmed news reports said the Russian Navy had taken over Ukraine's only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia. Ships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet surrounded the Zaporizhzhia in a bay near the Crimean port of Sevastopol and threw stun grenades, prompting its surrender, Russia's Channel 5 reported. A naval news website in Russia, flot.com, said the Zaporizhzhia's captain agreed to transfer the vessel, which was launched in 1970 and has a crew of 78, to the Black Sea Fleet. The reports came days after Russian military personnel boarded and occupied three Ukrainian warships in Crimea Thursday. Meanwhile, interim Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh accused his commanders in Crimea of "weak morals" as Ukrainian soldiers and sailors continue to be surrounded on the peninsula. Russian forces essentially took control of Crimea, which has a majority Russian population, at the end of February after three months of protests against pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych led to his ouster. "Men don't cry," Tenyukh offered as a retort to officers who have complained of a dearth of leadership and support from the general staff. The army has been poorly trained in recent years and has lacked preparation for how to respond to an emergency, Tenyukh charged. Navy chief Sergei Gayduk said Ukrainian military personnel in Crimea must secure their ships and bases. A drawback is out of the question, he told the television channel TSN. Gayduk himself was released Thursday, a day after being seized during a raid by pro-Russia militias on a military base in Crimea.
