Vladimir Putin has ordered thousands of Russian troops participating in military exercises near Ukraine's border to return to their base today.
But the president showed no signs of loosening the stranglehold on the Crimean peninsula, openly defying the threat of diplomatic and economic sanctions from world leaders.
It came as U.S. Secretary of state Kerry travelled to Kiev to meet the new Ukrainian leadership which has accused Moscow of military invasion.
The Kremlin, which does not recognise the new Ukrainian leadership, insists it made the move in order to protect millions of Russians living there.
Today, pro-Russian troops who had taken control of the Belbek air in the Crimea region, firing warning shots into the air as around 300 Ukrainian soldiers, who previously manned the airfield, demanded their jobs back.
Ukraine has effectively lost control of the peninsula and admits it has ‘no military options’ to make Moscow withdraw.
Although the Russian president has kept his silence on the crisis, his foreign minister said Russian troops were protecting people from ‘ultra-nationalist threats’ and would be staying put.
Justifying military action, Sergei Lavrov said: ‘This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life.’
The disclosure of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's support for Russian military intervention was made at the third emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council since Friday.
It came amid fears that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine.
Russia faced demands from almost all council members to pull its troops out of Crimea and got no support for its military action from close ally China.
'With the exception of one member of the Security Council - the Russian Federation - we have heard overwhelming support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and for peaceful dialogue,' U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.
During the heated meeting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin strongly defended his government's actions as 'fully appropriate and legitimate' to defend the human rights of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine, which he claimed is under threat of oppression from the north and west after violent protests swept in a new government.
Ukrainian commanders claimed yesterday they are being blackmailed into defecting to the Russian side.
One said he had been given an ultimatum to surrender his garrison or face a ‘storm’ – with threats made against the lives of his family and his subordinates.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Delyatitsky, who leads a marine battalion, said he had been told by telephone to give in and make an oath of allegiance to the pro-Russian ‘puppet’ regime in Crimea.
His is one of the few Crimean unit not to be taken over by pro-Russian troops.
Ukrainian officials said Aleksander Vitkoset, the head of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, had set the deadline.
However the Russian ministry of defence said the idea of an ultimatum was ‘complete nonsense’. It accused Ukraine of trying to spark war by making the allegations, adding: ‘Efforts to make us clash won’t work.’
No shots have been fired in the conflict but an estimated 16,000 Russian soldiers are said to have been deployed to the Crimea.
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