Troops in unmarked uniforms stand guard in Balaklava, on the outskirts of Sevastopol, as residents walk by. The port city is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian uprising has unsettled ethnic Russians there. Andrew Lubimov/AP

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — Friday night, Vasili Kryshko bought a pair of woodland green hunting waders. A friend accompanying him bought a long waterproof trench coat, also in camouflage, and they set off to serve their shift at the local self-defense battalion checkpoint, 20 miles outside the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Speaking from the checkpoint, Kryshko said it was set up a week ago to prevent “provocateurs” from Kiev and western Ukraine from coming into the city after three months of protests led to the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovich last Saturday. They are in communication with other battalions across the autonomous peninsula, coordinating security.

"We are not paid," he said. "We are not here for money. We are here for security.”

The post was unarmed on Saturday morning, but Kryshko said they could have weapons delivered in less than 15 minutes if needed. “We hope it won’t come to that, but we are ready for anything,” he said. “Crimea will decide its fate for itself, it’s the people who will decide.”

But the checkpoint’s loyalty was clear: A Russian flag was flying high over the barricades and a sign on the roadblock said: “Russia is where we are.”

Unhappy with the outcome of the protests in the capital and alarmed at the rise of Ukrainian nationalist groups in Kiev, many ethnic Russians in Crimea, who make up almost 60 percent of the population here, have been protesting and calling for Russia to come to their aid — with some even going as far as demanding their neighbor immediately absorb the territory.

On Saturday afternoon, they may have gotten their wish. The new pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea asked Russian president Vladimir Putin for help safeguarding the Black Sea peninsula. Putin requested and received authorization from the Russian senate to use military force in Ukraine. Already, professional-looking gunmen in neat, matching uniforms, widely assumed to be Russian troops, took over the capital's government buildings, two Crimean airports and the local television building.