Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (ARCHIVE)

Meanwhile in Crimea...

A former deputy prime minister of Crimea's Russia-backed government is suspected of theft.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) department for Crimea announced on February 17 that Rustam Temirgaliyev may be involved in the theft of more than 300 kilograms of gold and a significant amount of cash from Ukraine's State Saving Bank (Oshchadbank) in Crimea.

Temirgaliyev served as Crimea's Deputy Prime Minister from February 2014, when Russia started the annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, to June 2014.

He is currently the Plenipotentiary Envoy of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan in Kazakhstan in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

It is not clear if Temirgaliyev has been arrested.

(TASS, Interfax)

Here's a video from Reuters of Ukrainian troops withdrawing from Debaltseve:

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Ukrainian Forces Begin Retreating From Debaltseve

by RFE/RL

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