17:31
29.3.2014
From our news desk. Kerry's firming up plans for meeting with Lavrov.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has made a last-minute change of plans to fly to France for talks on Ukraine.
U.S. officials said Saturday that Kerry would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Sunday evening in Paris to discuss the situation in Ukraine where Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula has led to a situation some officials have described as the biggest security problem in Europe since the Cold War.
The meeting comes after U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a call on Friday to have their foreign ministers meet to discuss a possible diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine.
U.S. officials said Saturday that Kerry would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Sunday evening in Paris to discuss the situation in Ukraine where Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula has led to a situation some officials have described as the biggest security problem in Europe since the Cold War.
The meeting comes after U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a call on Friday to have their foreign ministers meet to discuss a possible diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine.
16:49
29.3.2014
#Tymoshenko submits documents for registration as presidential candidate to CEC #Ukraine http://t.co/n0kPTGuDbZ
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 29, 2014
16:49
29.3.2014
#Deschytsia states new government of #Ukraine has no intention to join #NATO http://t.co/6uiydxxJYA
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 29, 2014
16:47
29.3.2014
Video of Crimean Tatars discussing autonomy, from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
16:45
29.3.2014
From RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, a video (in Ukrainian) of servicemen and their families leaving Crimea.
16:39
29.3.2014
March 30, 2 p.m., the global protest 'We Want Peace. Russia, Stop!' in the central square of your city! If you... http://t.co/5TvBWa1nmU
— English EuroMaidan (@EuroMaidanEN) March 29, 2014
16:27
29.3.2014
Channel 5 has video of Turchynov-Lukashenka meeting:
16:10
29.3.2014
Lukashenko tells Turchinov that "a third country will never be allowed to threaten Ukraine from Belorus" Ukraine's new best friend
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) March 29, 2014
16:08
29.3.2014
In an Op-Ed for "The Washington Post," Estonian President Toomas Hendrick Ilves writes that the West needs a new playbook for dealing with Russia:
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine marks a paradigm shift, the end of trust in the post-Cold War order. This order, based on respect for territorial sovereignty, the integrity and inviolability of borders and a belief that relations can be built on common values, has collapsed. International treaties no longer hold, and the use of raw force is again legitimate. In its annexation of Crimea, Russia has thrown the rulebook out the window. The world is back in a zero-sum paradigm. This is not about only Crimea or relations between Ukraine and Russia. The shift has changed the assumptions underlying European security and dealings between democratic states and Russia.
16:03
29.3.2014
Meanwhile, the Baltics mark a decade in NATO. Via AFP:
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Saturday marked a decade since joining NATO just as rising concerns over Russia's territorial ambitions in eastern Europe have reinforced the importance of the Western military alliance.
Two US fighter jets roared across sunny skies in Lithuania as President Dalia Grybauskaite hailed NATO membership as "vitally important" to Baltic security.
"Our expectations about Lithuania's security have been fulfilled. NATO partners have demonstrated that we do not face threats alone," she said.
The three Baltic countries of 6.3 million people were under Moscow's thumb before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Russian action against Ukraine has rattled nerves in the region.
"We would be a grey zone if we did not join NATO, that would be a danger," pensioner Antanas Spundys told AFP as he watched the fly-over.
NATO began an air policing mission over the Baltic states when the trio joined the alliance on March 29, 2004, in a move seen as a bulwark against unwanted Russian overtures.
The United States sent six extra F-15 fighters to boost Baltic air patrols this month, bringing their total to 10 aircraft.
Washington also said it was considering rotating troops in the Baltic region, while Britain, France and Denmark also pledged more warplanes.
Two US fighter jets roared across sunny skies in Lithuania as President Dalia Grybauskaite hailed NATO membership as "vitally important" to Baltic security.
"Our expectations about Lithuania's security have been fulfilled. NATO partners have demonstrated that we do not face threats alone," she said.
The three Baltic countries of 6.3 million people were under Moscow's thumb before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Russian action against Ukraine has rattled nerves in the region.
"We would be a grey zone if we did not join NATO, that would be a danger," pensioner Antanas Spundys told AFP as he watched the fly-over.
NATO began an air policing mission over the Baltic states when the trio joined the alliance on March 29, 2004, in a move seen as a bulwark against unwanted Russian overtures.
The United States sent six extra F-15 fighters to boost Baltic air patrols this month, bringing their total to 10 aircraft.
Washington also said it was considering rotating troops in the Baltic region, while Britain, France and Denmark also pledged more warplanes.