U.N. Envoy in Crimea Threatened by Gunmen and pro-Russian Protesters re-Take Regional Govt

The United Nations protested Wednesday that its envoy to the tense Ukrainian region of Crimea had been threatened by unidentified armed men, but denied reports he had been kidnapped.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters Robert Serry had been accosted by gunmen outside naval headquarters in Simferopol and warned "he should leave Crimea."

Serry had been travelling with a U.N. colleague.

When he was prevented from returning to his vehicle, he dropped into a cafe to use a telephone to alert the mission of the incident before heading back towards his hotel on foot.

Eliasson said it was not clear whether the envoy would have to halt his mission to Crimea.

But a journalist from British news network ITN who witnessed the incident reported on Twitter that Serry was headed for the airport.

Eliasson was speaking by video link from Kiev, where the United Nations is taking part in international efforts to mediate a stand-off between Russia and Ukraine's fledgling government.

Russian-backed forces seized control of Crimea and surrounded remaining Ukrainian bases there after a street revolt in Kiev ousted Ukraine's former pro-Moscow leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Meanwhile in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, about 1,000 pro-Russian protesters took back the regional government building, leaving around a dozen people injured, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Some demonstrators could be seen with bloodied faces after they pushed through ranks of police with cries of "Russia!" and "Fascism will not pass!"

They then broke into the building and occupied the three lower floors.

Pro-Russian forces had already taken over the building on Monday and hoisted the Russian flag in a city that is a stronghold of Ukraine's Yanukovych, ousted last month.

They were however evacuated by police earlier Wednesday under the pretext of a bomb threat and the Russian flag was lowered to be replaced again by the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow.

A protest in support of the new pro-European government in Kiev was planned on Wednesday evening in front of the regional government building.

On Tuesday, some 1,500 people had gathered there for a similar rally, holding signs that read "I am from Donetsk, I am Ukrainian" and "We do not want to join Russia. Tourists, go home!"

Separately, Estonia's top diplomat told EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in an audio leaked about allegations that Ukraine's pro-Western leaders may have had a hand in the February 20-21 bloodbath in Kiev.

"There is now a stronger and stronger understanding (in Kiev) that behind the snipers, it was not (ousted president Viktor) Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition," Urmas Paet tells Ashton in the audio leaked on YouTube.

Dozens of protesters and around 15 police officers were killed, and parliament impeached Yanukovych the next day.

In the audio of the February 26 call, whose authenticity was confirmed by Estonia, Paet told Ashton he was informed in Kiev that "they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."

Paet, who had had talks with Ukraine's new leaders on February 25, added: "It's really disturbing that now the new coalition, they don't want to investigate what exactly happened."

She responds: "I think we do want to investigate. I mean I didn't know. I didn't pick that up. Gosh."

Paet's spokeswoman Minna-Liina Lind confirmed the audio's authenticity, telling AFP that the minister "regrets very much" that the conversation was leaked.

"We reject the claim that Paet was giving an assessment of the opposition's involvement in the violence," she added.

Pictures' source: @jamesmatesitv - Twitter account