Here's another update from our news desk:
Kyiv says Russia has massed 4,000 troops in Crimea near the land bridge that links the annexed peninsula with Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko on September 18 said the Russian forces were deployed “with all their equipment and ammunition.”
He said Kyiv has reinforced its forces in eastern Ukraine with more troops and new equipment amid a shaky two-week-old cease-fire with pro-Russian separatists.
Lysenko spoke hours before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was to address the U.S. Congress and meet President Barack Obama.
On September 16, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said a top Russian military priority was to increase its presence in Crimea.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March has been declared illegal by the United States, the European Union, and the UN General Assembly.
(Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA, ITAR-TASS, and Interfax)
Ukraine President @Poroshenko has begun his working visit to the US. https://t.co/H6t8fwNm4R
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 18, 2014
Ukraine economy deteriorating but reforms on track, @EBRD says. Predicts GDP contraction of 9% 2014 & 3% 2015. Ouch! pic.twitter.com/r0sQJLg3OA
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) September 18, 2014
Sasha, a Donbass Battalion soldier, shows where a bullet pierced his neck during the fight for #Ilovaisk last month. pic.twitter.com/C4S2FTHSdZ
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 18, 2014
Interfax quotes Ukraine's former president Kuchma saying the next round of the contract group talks on eastern Ukraine is tomorrow.
— Nataliya Vasilyeva (@NatVasilyevaAP) September 18, 2014
There is a ceasefire but for some reason everyone around this gun including @GrahamWP_UK is wearing ear protection pic.twitter.com/brjPEFLDaI
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) September 18, 2014
Петро @poroshenko прибув до США. Фото: М. Палінчак pic.twitter.com/s7jdCuyhfm
— Українська правда (@ukrpravda_news) September 18, 2014
Rally in Donetsk supportind independent Scotland small,but message is big: promise of armed support pic.twitter.com/2eAGAcBlSE #indyref #Ukraine
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) September 18, 2014Meanwhile in Crimea...
The building of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis (Assembly), has been impounded by Russia's Federal Bailiffs Service.
Some 15 bailiffs arrived at the Mejlis today and requested all people to leave in accordance with a Simferopol court ruling that all property and bank accounts of the Qirim (Crimea) Foundation -- including the Mejlis building -- be impounded.
The chairman of the Crimean Tatar Qurultay (Congress), Zair Smeldyaev, said at the Mejlis today that nobody can order an eviction of the building until a September 22 scheduled hearing on the matter.
The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed Russia's March annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and boycotted local elections on September 14.
On September 15, three masked, armed men removed a Ukrainian flag from the Mejlis building and Russian security forces searched it the next day.
(Reporting by the Crimean Unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Now, Vladimir Putin is accusing the West of not playing by the rules (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Western nations of violating the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by imposing sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.
Putin told a government meeting today that the sanctions "were nothing but a rejection by some of our partners of basic WTO principles," including the principle of free and fair competition.
He said that, in taking responsive measures, Russia was not seeking to punish the West, but to protect its own interests.
The United States and the European Union accuse Moscow of supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with troops and weapons, and have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia.
Russia denies any direct involvement, and has retaliated by banning imports of most Western food supplies and some consumer goods.
Russia joined the WTO in 2012 after years of negotiations.
(Interfax, Reuters, AFP)