Russian occupying troops in Crimea are led by  Lieutenant General Igor Turcheniuk, a deputy head of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation. This is taken from an audio recording of Turcheniuk’s meeting with the officers of Ukrainian Naval Forces at one of the military bases, a copy of which has been obtained by RBK Ukraine.

After introducing himself to the officers and describing his own military background, Turcheniuk indicated that he, himself, is of Ukrainian descent, and then called on the Ukrainian officers to surrender their weapons to the stockpile. “We will all defend it together. There will be no physical coercion,” the Lieutenant General said.