Russia is playing out 'Crimean scenario' in eastern Ukraine - acting president

KIEV (Reuters) - Separatist action in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russia demonstrators have occupied public buildings shows a "second stage" of special operations by Russia is under way aimed at breaking up Ukraine, its interim president said on Monday. Oleksander Turchinov, in a televised appeal to the people, said the action in three cities of eastern Ukraine - Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk - showed that the enemies of Ukraine were "playing out the Crimean scenario" - a reference to the pro-Russian takeover of the peninsula and its annexation by Russia. "We will not allow this," he said. Warning that some separatist activists had taken up arms, Turchinov said: "Anti-terrorist measures will be carried out against those who had taken up weapons." (Writing By Richard Balmforth, editing by Thomas Grove)