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Protests boil over in Crimea as Russia orders test of combat readiness

Display of Russian military muscle comes as Ukraine's interim leaders try to form new unity government

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inShare10 Email Howard Amos in Sevastopol, Shaun Walker in Kiev and agencies theguardian.com, Wednesday 26 February 2014 10.34 EST Jump to comments (1027)

A poster depicting the toppled Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, and the former prime minister, Mykola Azarov, behind bars attached to a tent of opposition supporters. Photograph: ITAR-TASS/Barcroft Media The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has reportedly ordered an immediate test of combat readiness of troops in central and western Russia in a move that will dramatically elevate fears of a separatist threat in Ukraine. The Russian presidential order was confirmed by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. The order came as pro-Russian demonstrators clashed with about 20,000 Muslim Tatars rallying in support of Ukraine's interim pro-European government in the Crimean administrative capital of Simferopol.

At least 20 people were injured as two competing rallies met outside the city's regional parliament building, which was scheduled to hold a crisis session to address the turmoil gripping the country. At least one person died in the chaos, though probably as the result of a heart attack rather than a violent injury, Interfax news reported. The order for the military tests was followed by a statement from the Russian foreign ministry claiming that extremists were "imposing their will" in Ukraine and whipping up religious tensions. Priests and property belonging to the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox church had been threatened, the statement said, adding that these tension could cause "an even bigger schism in Ukrainian society". These provocative rumblings from Russia comes as Ukraine's interim leadership urgently tries to win the confidence of its divided and economically ravaged nation with the creation of a new unity government. Pro-European protesters filled Kiev's Maidan square the seat of the Ukrainian revolution preparing to meet the replacement cabinet proposed by Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president, on Wednesday, as Turchynov dismissed the country's feared riot police. Turchynov had warned on Tuesday that the country faced a serious threat from separatism amid fears the Kremlin may be stoking pro-Russian sentiment in the Crimean peninsula. "We discussed the question of not allowing any signs of separatism and threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity and punishing people guilty of this," Turchynov said after meeting key officials. Before Wednesday's military manoeuvre, a visiting Russian parliamentarian said on Tuesday that Moscow would act in the event of heightened tension over the Crimean peninsula.

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