Russian troop convoy on road to Crimea’s capital

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press - Demonstrators gather outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, March 1, 2014. Russian troops took over Crimea as the parliament in Moscow gave President Vladimir Putin a green light Saturday to use the military to protect Russian interests in Ukraine.

 Associated Press journalists on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula have seen a convoy of hundreds of Russian troops heading toward the regional capital, Simferopol.

Russian troops took over the strategic Black Sea peninsula on  Saturday without firing a shot and the new government in Kiev has been powerless to react.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected calls from the West to pull back his forces, insisting that Russia has a right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine.

On the road from Sevastopol, the Crimean port where Russia maintains a naval base, to Simferopol on Sunday morning, AP journalists saw 12 military trucks carrying troops, a Tiger vehicle armed with a machine gun and also two ambulances.

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