MOSCOW — All the Ukrainian servicemen stationed in Crimea were allowed to leave for mainland Ukraine but 8,000 military men stayed and applied for permission to join the Russian army, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised comments on today.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula in March after Crimea residents voted overwhelmingly to seek to join Russia. The referendum was called two weeks earlier, coinciding with the military occupation of the region by armed men in unmarked uniforms.

Shoigu today described claims the Russian army has mistreated Ukrainian servicemen as “improper and provocative.” Several Ukrainian officers including a military base commander were briefly detained by Russian forces and kept in custody for several days.

Moscow has never admitted the thousands of troops roaming the peninsula, seizing the airports and putting up road blocks were in fact Russian. They wore no markings but some of them drove APCs with Russian number plates.

Ukraine and Western powers did not recognize the vote and protested against Russian annexation.