Minsk Memes: Two Dictators, Two Presidents, A Chancellor, And A Chair
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany negotiated through the night in Minsk in hopes of an agreement to stop the bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Unfortunately for restless journalists on the scene and for those following it online, most of the discussion happened behind closed doors.
But the Internet never sleeps and the world leaders made "news" in some unexpected ways during the few moments when they did emerge.
Did Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, for instance, engage in some passive-aggressive musical chairs with his much more powerful Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin?
It's what everyone is thinking.
This was how the fight in parliament started:
And here's another angle:
Well, that's one way of doing it.
Latest from Poroshenko:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said implementing the terms of a new peace deal that was reached after marathon negotiations in Minsk will prove to be "not easy."
Speaking from Brussels late February 12, Poroshenko described his 16 hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as "very difficult."
The talks that started on February 11 and concluded the following day were the latest attempt to stop the fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists that has claimed nearly 6,000 lives in 10 months.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We will judge the commitment of Russia and the separatists by their actions, not their words."
Kerry said the United States is "prepared to consider rolling back sanctions on Russia when [the agreements] are fully implemented."
Powerful feature from the BBC that looks at how the shooting began on February 20 last year.
"Protest organisers have always denied any involvement - but one man told the BBC a different story."
Crimea gets a new area code:
Crimea's telephone network has been switched to Russian standards and a new area code has been designated for the area.
The press service for the so-called ministry of information of Crimea announced on February 12 that the previous Ukrainian code for the peninsula – 38 065 – was being changed to – 7 – the code for Russia, then 365.
Russia annexed Crimea in violation of international law last March shortly after the pro-Kremlin president of Ukraine was chased from power.
The so-called prime minister of Crimea, Pavel Aksyonov, said only the country and area code was being changed and individual home phone numbers would stay the same.
On February 11, Crimea's telephone and Internet connections were severed as Krymtelecom took over subscriber servicing.