KIEV, July 2 – A well-organized semi-militant Russian ethnic group clashed with hundreds of Ukrainian riot police in Crimea on Saturday while attempting to hoist a cross in the city of Feodosia without proper authorization.

The clash, which left nine people seriously wounded with hands broken and heads bleeding, underscores a sudden escalation of tensions in an area that is sensitive to ethnic violence.

Although ethnic Russians make up about two-thirds of Crimean residents, at least half of the remaining residents are Crimean Tatars, a Muslim group that vehemently objected to the hoisting of the cross.

The escalation comes less than two months after another clash, involving a Russian group and Ukrainian nationalist groups, has taken place in Lviv.

The developments come amid cooling in relations between Kiev and Moscow this year, as talks over natural gas prices and trade issues have produced little progress.

Vasyl Dzharty, the Crimean prime minister and an ally of President Viktor Yanukovych, said the attempts to hoist the cross was not a religious matter, but controversial political move that had been aimed at destabilizing the situation on the peninsula.

“Maintaining peace and consent in multi-ethnic Crimea is our key, basic value,” Dzharty said in a statement. “Any attempts to make provocation aimed at destabilization of political situation will be stopped quickly and in a tough manner.”

Dzharty said an attempt to hoist the cross in Feodosia was “aggressive” and “illegal” and “politics camouflaged as religion.”

The comment is the harshest yet description by a Ukrainian official of the rising activity of pro-Russian groups in various parts of Ukraine almost always leading to clashes over sensitive issues.

At least 100 Cossacks, a well-organized semi-militant group joined a march across Feodosia to hoist the cross, which had been removed by the authorities on July 1. The cross was removed because it was hoisted illegally on May 4, police said.

About 100 riot police and about 200 police forces gathered in the area, ordered to prevent the hoisting of the cross amid complains it had been offending the Muslims in the area.

“Despite repeated warnings by police to stop and halt illegal actions, the members of the march did not react, continued their march and tried to break through the police cordon by force,” police said.

Yuriy Minikh, the chief of the Feodosia Cossacks, accused police of using disproportional force.

“Police attacked the Cossacks like the fascists attacked the USSR,” Minikh said, adding that the authorities have been trying to break the Cossacks, Russian television RBK reported.

A similar clash has taken place on May 9 in Lviv over hoisting USSR’s Red Flag by a pro-Russian group that had also shouted insulting slogans against dominated ethnic Ukrainian groups. That turned into violence that had left two people wounded, including one with a gun shot fired by the pro-Russian activist. (tl/ez)