16:53
12.3.2014
An odd report from LifeNews.ru about plans for an independence referendum in Kharkiv on Sunday. LifeNews is believed to be linked to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
В Харькове на народном референдуме хотят собрать 3 млн голосов за независимость от Киева
16:54
12.3.2014
Lenta.ru main correspondent says he is quitting and others, too “@A3AP: на гореславского работать не буду, уверен не только я”
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) March 12, 2014
17:25
12.3.2014
U.S. Senator John McCain comments on the Ukraine crisis during an interview today with RFE/RL's sister network VOA:
"There are a number of steps that Congress needs to take. One of them would be to impose sanctions on individuals, especially the oligarchs that are around [Russian President Vladimir] Putin who are responsible for [the death of Russian whistle-blower Sergei] Magnitsky, for other abuses of human rights, and corruption. We start our missile-defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland, accelerate the path of Georgia and Moldova into NATO, and a number of other steps that we could take, which would then change, I think, hopefully, Putin's behavior.
"First and foremost understand Vladimir Putin for what he is. Stop saying: 'I'll be more flexible when I’m reelected.' Understand -- stop pushing the 'reset button.' Understand Putin for what he is: a KGB colonel apparatchik who said the worst disaster of the 20th century was the breakup of the Soviet Union."
On whether it would be effective for the U.S. to speed up the process of approving exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to reduced dependency on Russian energy sources:
"I think it would be very important but it's long term, were not going to get facilities to move natural gas immediately to Ukraine and to Germany and our European friends but we should embark on it now. But we shouldn't place too much hopes on that because it's going to take a while before we can do it. Putin tomorrow could cut off the gas."
17:55
12.3.2014
A report by the TV station Dozhd on reports of a Russian military convoy in the Russian region of Belgorod, about 20 kilometers from the Kharkiv region's border with Russia, and some 60 kilometers from the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city (population of about 1.47 million).
17:56
12.3.2014
Some more news in from the wires:
The veteran leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, who is in on a visit to Moscow, has discussed the situation in Ukraine in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president's press service said the two men had a lengthy talk on the situation in Ukraine's Crimea ahead of a scheduled referendum on March 16.
The Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, does not recognize Crimea's new pro-Kremlin government which called the March 16 referendum on whether the region should break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
Jemilev, a former head of the Mejlis, told journalists that, in their telephone conversation, he urged the Russian leader to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. (UNIAN, Interfax, ITAR-TASS)
The veteran leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, who is in on a visit to Moscow, has discussed the situation in Ukraine in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president's press service said the two men had a lengthy talk on the situation in Ukraine's Crimea ahead of a scheduled referendum on March 16.
The Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, does not recognize Crimea's new pro-Kremlin government which called the March 16 referendum on whether the region should break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
Jemilev, a former head of the Mejlis, told journalists that, in their telephone conversation, he urged the Russian leader to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. (UNIAN, Interfax, ITAR-TASS)
19:06
12.3.2014
More fallout at lenta.ru after the longtime editor in chief was forced to quit after linking to an article on a Right Sector leader.
I understand that pretty much every journo in lenta.ru has decided to quit after takeover by the Kremlin
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) March 12, 2014
19:21
12.3.2014
This just in regarding the OSCE mission in Ukraine:
A multinational observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says armed men manning a roadblock in Ukraine's Crimea last week threatened to open fire at the OSCE team if it tried to enter the region, which is now controlled by pro-Russian forces.
The observers -- sent by the 57-nation OSCE to monitor the situation in Crimea -- were prevented from entering Crimea several times over the past week.
A statement issued on March 12 recounted in detail the March 8 incident when the team attempted to reach the Crimean city of Sevastopol but were stopped at a roadblock.
It said that, despite the team being repeatedly denied access "at gunpoint," their observations still "produced significant evidence of equipment consistent with the presence" of Russian troops at the roadblocks. (Reuters, AP)
A multinational observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says armed men manning a roadblock in Ukraine's Crimea last week threatened to open fire at the OSCE team if it tried to enter the region, which is now controlled by pro-Russian forces.
The observers -- sent by the 57-nation OSCE to monitor the situation in Crimea -- were prevented from entering Crimea several times over the past week.
A statement issued on March 12 recounted in detail the March 8 incident when the team attempted to reach the Crimean city of Sevastopol but were stopped at a roadblock.
It said that, despite the team being repeatedly denied access "at gunpoint," their observations still "produced significant evidence of equipment consistent with the presence" of Russian troops at the roadblocks. (Reuters, AP)
20:10
12.3.2014
Putin apparently told Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Jemilev during a phone call that Ukraine's exit from the Soviet Union in 1991 was not entirely legal.
20:20
12.3.2014
Prominent philanthropist and financier George Soros weighs in on the Ukraine crisis at the European Council on Foreign Relations in London.
"It's very important to respond and respond the right way, which is not necessarily to impose sanctions on Russia, but to actually help Ukraine financially and also with technical assistance, something like a European Marshall Plan for Ukraine. That would be the right response."
20:23
12.3.2014
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaking today in Washington to members of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Foreign Operations about his upcoming trip to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"[U.S.] President [Barack] Obama has asked me to leave tomorrow evening and fly to London to meet with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, and I will do that. And we have had previous conversations, as you know, we spoke earlier this week. The president has talked several times to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin. I will make clear again as I have throughout this crisis that while we respect, obviously, that Russia has deep historical, cultural, and other kinds of interests with respect to Ukraine and particularly Crimea, nothing justifies a military intervention that the world has witnessed.
"There are many other legitimate ways to address Russia's concerns and we are trying to make that very, very clear. In my discussions with Minister Lavrov I have made it clear that there are many reasons for Russia to choose a path of de-escalation and of political solution here. We believe that interests can be met, and that most importantly the desires of the people of Ukraine can be respected, and that the international law can be respected.
"We will offer certain choices to Foreign Minister Lavrov, and to President Putin through him, and to Russia with hopes, and I think the hopes of the world, that we will be able to find a way forward that diffuses this and finds a way to respect the integrity and sovereignty of the state of Ukraine."