11:52
21.3.2014
Ukraine's border authorities say about 1,000 people have fled Crimea since Putin called for its annexation earlier this week. Many headed to the Lviv region. Some have also traveled to Poland, where they plan to ask for political asylum.
11:59
21.3.2014
International courier DHL is sending out messages informing customers that despite the "complete resumption" of service to Ukraine, "no Crimean cities can receive packages with a declared value of more than 200 euros" because such items are being halted at the "gateway" in Kyiv.
12:01
21.3.2014
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says at the signing of the political provisions of an EU Association Agreement in Brussels, via our Brussels correspondent:
"This is a historic day for my country and we believe that this is a historic day for the entire Europe. We want to be a part of the big European family. This is the first tremendous step in order to achieve for Ukraine its ultimate goal, a full-fledged membership."
"My country faces a number of challenges, both economic, political and military, and signing this treaty we will show to the entire world that we are together, that Ukraine shares the European values and we can together be successful. We do understand that this is a very bumpy road. But that is our job, to deliver everything that Ukrainian people were fighting for."
"It started as a protest, a pro-European protest, and let me commemorate those who gave their lives for this treaty, too, and for our freedoms and liberties and for our European future."
"My country faces a number of challenges, both economic, political and military, and signing this treaty we will show to the entire world that we are together, that Ukraine shares the European values and we can together be successful. We do understand that this is a very bumpy road. But that is our job, to deliver everything that Ukrainian people were fighting for."
"It started as a protest, a pro-European protest, and let me commemorate those who gave their lives for this treaty, too, and for our freedoms and liberties and for our European future."
12:11
21.3.2014
Crimean pro-Euromaidan activist Andriy Shchekun tells RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service about his abduction in Simferopol. He was held and tortured for 10 days by unidentified assailants.
They beat me, tortured me, electroshocked me, hit me on the back. They asked me whether I had ties to Right Sektor... Several of the guards also abused me, they shot me in the arms and legs with pneumatic guns. They didn't give me anything to eat, and sometimes nothing to drink either. It was very, very hard.
They beat me, tortured me, electroshocked me, hit me on the back. They asked me whether I had ties to Right Sektor... Several of the guards also abused me, they shot me in the arms and legs with pneumatic guns. They didn't give me anything to eat, and sometimes nothing to drink either. It was very, very hard.
Звільнений із полону кримський активіст Щекун: Катували, випитували, чи пов'язаний з «Правим сектором» http://t.co/JS4rlyRDH3
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 21, 2014
12:32
21.3.2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally signed a treaty -- already approved by both houses of parliament -- that makes Crimea part of the Russian Federation.
12:33
21.3.2014
Tit for tat? Moscow has frozen the Russian accounts of Roshen, the chocolate empire of Ukrainian billionaire and Euromaidan supporter Petro Poroshenko, on unspecified criminal charges. Total amount blocked: 2.8 billion rubles ($77 million).
12:40
21.3.2014
More of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk's statements from Brussels after the Association Agreement signing, via Reuters:
"This deal covers the most existential and most important issues, mainly security and defense cooperation. This deal will establish a joint decision-making body, which is to facilitate the process of real reforms in my country. And this deal meets the aspirations of millions of Ukrainians that want to be a part of the European Union."
"It is essential for all of us to speak in one single voice in order not to give anyone, including Russia [the opportunity] to use energy as a new nuclear weapon."
"It is essential for all of us to speak in one single voice in order not to give anyone, including Russia [the opportunity] to use energy as a new nuclear weapon."
12:42
21.3.2014
"Annexation: The action of annexing something, especially territory. Example: the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938" (Oxford Dictionary)
Russian FM Lavrov doesn't like word "annexation" applied to what happened in Crimea: http://t.co/RLf1kc8Luf My dictionary says it's fine.
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) March 21, 2014
12:46
21.3.2014
Russia now has 85 regions. Let mayonnaise filled sushi bombing commence.
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) March 21, 2014
12:50
21.3.2014
Some of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's televised comments to journalists in Moscow today appeared aimed at creating divisions in the West:
"All the statements that we have heard from Washington about economic sanctions that, as [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama said, are not being introduced yet but that he has the right to [impose], and he also added that such sanctions will affect many sectors of the Russian economy, but at the same time he admitted that these sanctions will also disrupt the global economy."
"If our American partners, for the sake of satisfying their geopolitical ambitions, are ready to take these steps in connection with a situation taking place thousands and thousands of miles away from Washington, it probably will be obvious to everyone that the Americans are not being guided by common sense and a sense of reality but by the wish to punish somebody. I think this would be wrong."
"We understand that in every country there are political divisions. There are parliaments where the moods might be quite varied. But to follow the lead of open Russophobes, of those who are trying to present this situation in order to isolate Russia -- is a dead end in any event, and I think that no serious politicians would attempt to satisfy those desires."
"With regard to our other partners -- some European [partners] are against economic sanctions. This can be heard in many countries, primarily in leading countries of the European Union, including Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, by the way, and many other states."
"If our American partners, for the sake of satisfying their geopolitical ambitions, are ready to take these steps in connection with a situation taking place thousands and thousands of miles away from Washington, it probably will be obvious to everyone that the Americans are not being guided by common sense and a sense of reality but by the wish to punish somebody. I think this would be wrong."
"We understand that in every country there are political divisions. There are parliaments where the moods might be quite varied. But to follow the lead of open Russophobes, of those who are trying to present this situation in order to isolate Russia -- is a dead end in any event, and I think that no serious politicians would attempt to satisfy those desires."
"With regard to our other partners -- some European [partners] are against economic sanctions. This can be heard in many countries, primarily in leading countries of the European Union, including Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, by the way, and many other states."