16:17
26.3.2014
Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya speaking today at a news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski following their meeting in Kyiv:
"On the international stage we need something like the Solidarity -- I mean 'Solidarnosc' that you had in Poland. We hope we will have such solidarity on the international arena -- countries standing together against the Russian aggression."
"Speaking of Ukraine's eastern borders, I have to say that we will defend them -- the army will and the people who have organized themselves to defend [Ukraine] against invasion also will, should such invasion take place."
"We believe that Russia, as [Russian Foreign] Minister [Sergei] Lavrov reassured me, does not harbor any plans to start an invasion into the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which also means that those sites [nuclear power plants located in the areas] will not be endangered."
"Speaking of Ukraine's eastern borders, I have to say that we will defend them -- the army will and the people who have organized themselves to defend [Ukraine] against invasion also will, should such invasion take place."
"We believe that Russia, as [Russian Foreign] Minister [Sergei] Lavrov reassured me, does not harbor any plans to start an invasion into the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which also means that those sites [nuclear power plants located in the areas] will not be endangered."
16:23
26.3.2014
#Ukraine's Ministry of Defense compiles list of items one must have ready in a backpack should country go to war https://t.co/tSnPfq0NPR
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 26, 2014
16:34
26.3.2014
Meanwhile, in Moldova:
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky has praised last month's referendum in Moldova's autonomous Gagauzia region, calling it a "timely" event. Meeting with a Gagauzia delegation in Moscow Wednesday, Slutsky said "we fully approve of the poll."
Gagauzia has a population of about 155,000, mostly ethnically Gagauz, Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians. Its residents voted in an unauthorized referendum for integration with a Russia-led customs union in February.
Moldova, which initialed an EU Association Agreement in November 2013, called the referendum illegal, saying it challenges Moldova's territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Romania's Monica Macovei, told RFE/RL this week that Moldova may sign the political part of the Association Agreement with the EU before signing the economic part, like Ukraine did after Russia annexed its Crimean Peninsula.
Gagauzia has a population of about 155,000, mostly ethnically Gagauz, Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians. Its residents voted in an unauthorized referendum for integration with a Russia-led customs union in February.
Moldova, which initialed an EU Association Agreement in November 2013, called the referendum illegal, saying it challenges Moldova's territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Romania's Monica Macovei, told RFE/RL this week that Moldova may sign the political part of the Association Agreement with the EU before signing the economic part, like Ukraine did after Russia annexed its Crimean Peninsula.
16:56
26.3.2014
"@coe: #Crimea: #Russia's delegation to #CoE Congress of loc & regional auth. publishes its 'Stament on #Ukraine.' http://t.co/sRuWI4ElPU"
— Omer AYDIN (@aydinomer) March 26, 2014
17:08
26.3.2014
#Russia promises to free kidnapped #Ukrainian Commanders by the end of the day http://t.co/1hpTOGllgD |PR Post #Crimea #Crimeaninvasion
— Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) March 26, 2014
17:19
26.3.2014
More reports of Russian troop movements in Crimea:
Crimean activists reported that Russian troops moving tanks & APCs in the outskirts of Simferopol. pic.twitter.com/gLPIDPEmrt
— Ryskeldi Satke (@RyskeldiSatke) March 26, 2014
18:16
26.3.2014
U.S. lawmaker calls for natural-gas exports to Europe to "sap Putin's strength."
Ed Royce: "America's newly developing energy supplies could make a difference, sapping President Putin's strength, while bolstering Ukraine's and many other European countries."
Ed Royce: "America's newly developing energy supplies could make a difference, sapping President Putin's strength, while bolstering Ukraine's and many other European countries."
18:25
26.3.2014
Ukrainian officer being freed in Crimea:
Colonel Mamchur came to #Sevastopol under guard escort to get his personal belongings & will leave #Crimea ,- his wife @ukrpravda_news |PR
— Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) March 26, 2014
18:34
26.3.2014
Obama: Russia's leadership is challenging truths and trying to redraw maps. He says the contest of ideas continues and that's what's at stake in Ukraine today....and says if the old way of doing things gets a foothold in Europe it will spread to other continents.