You're reading: Crimean police ordered to prevent clashes at any cost

 The Crimean law enforcement agencies have been tasked to prevent conflicts and clashes with pro-Russian forces, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.

 “All law-enforcement structures across the Crimea and Sevastopol have
received from me and Valentyn Nalyvaichenko [the head of the Ukrainian
Security Council] appropriate instructions: not to provoke a conflict or
armed standoff with the civilian population at any cost,” he told a
press conference on Wednesday.

This is not “a position of weakness,” he said. “This is the position
of reason and the only one, with which a conflict can be solved,” the
acting minister said.

“A special group of Verkhovna Rada envoys led by (people’s) deputy Andriy Senchenko” is working in the Crimea, he also said.

“I think, that way – through a dialogue – we shall achieve much more
than with standoffs … I have instructed all law enforcers, from
Simferopol to Sevastopol, to do everything to prevent clashes between
radical pro-Russian forces and other radical forces which side with
European integration or the Crimean Tatar people,” the acting minister
said.

All measures are in place to prevent any standoff in the Crimea, Avakov said.