ALTERNATIVE CROP A Russian flag flies in the foreground as unidentified armed men in uniform block a Ukrainian military base near the village of Perevalne, 20 km south of Simferopol, on March 2, 2014. A group of 1,000 armed men were blocking the entrance to a unit of Ukraine's border guards in a tense standoff in the south of the flashpoint Crimea peninsula on March 2, the defence ministry said. "One thousand armed fighters and around 20 trucks are blocking the perimetre of the 36th brigade of border guards... in Perevalne," the ministry said in a statement, as tensions remain high after Russia's parliament approved the deployment of troops in Ukraine. It did not indicate what nationality the armed men were. AFP PHOTO/ GENYA SAVILOV