Russia must stop Crimea provocations

Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov has accused Russia of deploying troops to Crimea and trying to provoke Kiev into "armed conflict".

In a televised address, he claimed Moscow wanted the new interim government to react to provocations so it could annexe Crimea.

It comes amid unconfirmed reports that Russian planes have flown hundreds of troops into the region.

Armed men, thought to be loyal to Russia, have also taken over key hubs.

President Turchynov appealed to President Putin to "stop provocations and start negotiations".

He said Russia was behaving as it did before sending troops into Georgia in 2008, "when having initiated a military conflict, they started to annex the territory".

His statement came a few hours after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken of the "extreme importance of not allowing a further escalation of violence" during telephone conversations with Western leaders.

But this appeared to conflict with what was being reported from within Crimea.

Flights from and to the regional capital, Simferopol, were cancelled with airlines saying airspace over the peninsula had been cancelled.

Senior Ukrainian official Sergiy Kunitsyn told local media 13 Russian aircraft carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops had landed at a military air base near Simferopol. This remains unconfirmed.

Earlier in the day, Russian armoured vehicles and helicopters were seen in and around Simferopol and Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet are based.

Unidentified armed men have moved in on Crimea's parliament, state television building and telecommunication centres.

Credit: The BBC