In Simferopol, unidentified armed men threatened journalists with assault rifles and took their memory cards

On March 15, in Simferopol in Moskva Hotel several groups armed in military uniforms and with assault rifles blocked one of the floors and took all memory cards from the journalists. When the gunmen rushed in, the so-called 'General' Kuznetsov entered the hall and introduced himself as a Minister of Defense of Crimea. He informed that these armed men were the military forces of Crimea and that they came due to a mistake, and that nothing was happening. He also promised that the memory cards would be returned to the journalists. After that, two groups of 6 or 7 armed and masked men exited the hotel. On their way they were rude, they were pushing people, including women, threatened to shoot everybody and hit with rifle stocks at photo and video cameras.