SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, March 5 (Reuters) - A U.N.
special envoy was forced to abandon a mission to Ukraine's Russian-occupied
Crimea region on Wednesday after being stopped by armed men and besieged inside
a cafe by a hostile crowd shouting "Russia! Russia!"
A reporter for Britain's ITN television, James
Mates, said the envoy, Dutch diplomat Robert Serry, had taken shelter in the
cafe to escape the armed men who stopped him. He agreed to leave Crimea to end
the stand-off.
A Reuters photographer saw him being escorted by
police through a crowd of about 100 angry demonstrators, some waving Russian
flags, near the headquarters of a foreign observer mission.
Crimea is under control of Russian forces who
seized it last week, although Moscow says "self defence" units of men
in uniform without insignia are not under its command.
"UN special envoy Robert Serry with me in
coffee shop. Outside local militia block the door," Mates tweeted.
"He refused to go with men blocking car, got
out and walked until he found coffee shop. He's asked ITV News team to stay
with him," Mates said.
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