( CNN ) -- Unidentified men attack journalists , brandishing guns , and snatch cameras . Local television channels are suddenly blocked or replaced . An international news organization is told by a hotel manager to stop broadcasting . These are just some tales from the field in Crimea , the embattled Ukrainian peninsula that 's at the heart of the struggle between Moscow , Kiev and the West . As the world watches a region on the brink of war , stories of harassment and internal pressures are making headlines . A U.N. envoy was threatened by armed men and driven out of the country . A Ukrainian worker must think carefully before answering his boss ' question : `` Are you for Ukraine or for Russia ? '' European military observers , invited by the Ukrainian government , are stopped at a checkpoint by armed and masked men , one of whom says in Russian : `` I 've been ordered by the government of Crimea not to let anyone in . '' It 's on the media to help provide an accurate picture of what 's happening on the ground in Crimea . And now that picture is becoming more difficult to paint . Some would say , what 's happening , is downright disturbing . A security camera in Simferopol , Crimea 's capital , captured the image of a Bulgarian freelance journalist and his assistant being attacked . CNN 's Michael Holmes said the two were spotted as they filmed masked men `` removing TV equipment from another television outfit and basically stealing it . '' When those men saw that they were being filmed , Holmes learned , they pounced -- wrestling the journalist to the ground , snatching the equipment and at one point even holding a gun to the journalist 's head . In signs that the pro-Russian Crimean authorities are clamping down on dissent within the peninsula , at least two Ukrainian channels , 1+1 and Channel 5 , have been blocked from ground-based broadcasting . The head of 1+1 told CNN that Russian state TV outlet Channel One is now broadcasting on its frequency . And now , CNN , too , is feeling some heat . `` Tensions are high , even where we are at this hotel , '' CNN 's Ann Coren told Wolf Blitzer during a Thursday broadcast from the confines of a hotel room . `` Management came and approached us and told us that we are no longer allowed to broadcast from this hotel . '' The assumption , she said , is that the hotel is kowtowing to outside forces , either the Crimean government , which is known to be pro-Russian , or local militia . CNN has not shied away from reporting about Russian forces being on the ground in Crimea , which Russian President Vladimir Putin denies , and that may have ruffled feathers . `` We 've been operating here for over a week -- happily , no problems whatsoever . But obviously somebody is putting pressure on the manager of this hotel and basically threatening to shut us down and kick us out , '' Coren said . `` Hopefully , hopefully , tomorrow we 'll still be here . '' CNN 's Matthew Chance , Diana Magnay , Ben Wedeman and Tim Schwarz also contributed to this report .
Journalists are threatened , cameras stolen , channels blocked . Recommend0 Syed Ahmed Ali Jun 09, 2014 03:57pm Hotel orders CNN to stop broadcasts .