UN special envoy Robert Serry is seen during a meeting with Ukraine's acting President Oleksander Turchinov in Kiev on March 4, 2014.
Simferopol, Ukraine:
A UN 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 the men blocking the car, got out and walked until he found coffee shop. He's asked the ITV News team to stay with him," Mates said.
Later Mates added that Serry had said he was very happy to leave Crimea "if it helped de-escalate the situation".
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 the men blocking the car, got out and walked until he found coffee shop. He's asked the ITV News team to stay with him," Mates said.
Later Mates added that Serry had said he was very happy to leave Crimea "if it helped de-escalate the situation".
© Thomson Reuters 2014
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
