State of emergency might be declared in Ukraine's Crimea: security chief

KIEV (Reuters) - Declaration of a state of emergency in the southern region of Crimea is one of the options being studied to resolve the crisis unfolding there, the top security official in Ukraine's new power structure said on Friday. "It is one of the options in the development of events," Andriy Paruby, secretary of the National security and Defence Council was quoted as saying by Interfax, replying to a journalist's question on whether a state of emergency might be introduced. But he said, even if this did occur, it would not mean deploying the army and existing security units would still have to handle the situation. "So we are looking for other more effective ways of localizing the situation on the Crimean peninsula," he said. According to Ukrainian legislation, a state of emergency can be introduced by parliament for a period of up to two months. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing By Richard Balmforth)