09:47
12.4.2014
BREAKING: Armed men have seized a police department in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk.
21:17
11.4.2014
We're wrapping up the blog now for another day. However, some details now emerging of where the G7 meeting later this year will be held. That's the one that was supposed to be held in Sochi.
The European Council says that leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers will meet in Brussels for two days starting June 4.
The EU Council's press office announced the meeting date on Twitter on April 11.
The meeting had been due to take place in the Russian ski resort of Sochi, but was rescheduled after the G7 leaders decided to exclude Russia from the summit over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The G7 summit will be attended by the leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
EU president Herman van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso are also almost certain to attend.
The EU Council's press office announced the meeting date on Twitter on April 11.
The meeting had been due to take place in the Russian ski resort of Sochi, but was rescheduled after the G7 leaders decided to exclude Russia from the summit over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The G7 summit will be attended by the leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
EU president Herman van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso are also almost certain to attend.
20:56
11.4.2014
More from our news desk on the U.S. sanctions against the Crimean leaders.
The U.S. Treasury says Washington is imposing sanctions on seven Crimean separatist leaders and Crimea-based gas company Chernomorneftgaz for undermining democracy in Ukraine.
The step, announced in a statement on April 11, is the third round of U.S. sanctions in connection with the Ukraine crisis.
The imposition of new sanctions comes immediately ahead of talks among senior U.S., Russian, Ukrainian, and EU officials due in Geneva on April 17.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who announced the date for the four-way talks to reporters in Washington April 11, said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend.
She said Kerry will "continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and find a diplomatic path forward."
The step, announced in a statement on April 11, is the third round of U.S. sanctions in connection with the Ukraine crisis.
The imposition of new sanctions comes immediately ahead of talks among senior U.S., Russian, Ukrainian, and EU officials due in Geneva on April 17.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who announced the date for the four-way talks to reporters in Washington April 11, said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend.
She said Kerry will "continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and find a diplomatic path forward."
20:40
11.4.2014
More diplomacy ahead.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says four-way Ukraine talks will be held in Geneva on April 17.
Psaki said in Washington April 11 that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the planned talks on the crisis in Ukraine between the United States, the EU, Russia, and the Ukrainian government.
She said Kerry will "continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and find a diplomatic path forward."
Psaki said in Washington April 11 that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the planned talks on the crisis in Ukraine between the United States, the EU, Russia, and the Ukrainian government.
She said Kerry will "continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and find a diplomatic path forward."
20:38
11.4.2014
BREAKING: The U.S. Treasury says Washington is imposing sanctions on seven Crimean separatist leaders and Crimea-based gas company Chernomorneftgaz for undermining democracy in Ukraine.
18:15
11.4.2014
Andrei Zubov was fired from his Moscow academic job after writing a controversial article about Crimea. Now it seems the decision is being reversed.
We interviewed Zubov here.
The Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (MGIMO) has cancelled its decision to fire a prominent scholar who criticized annexation of Ukraine's Crimea by Russia.
The institute announced on April 11 that it is reversing its decision last month to fire professor Andrei Zubov as he is a member of the election commission in Moscow's Khamovniki district and laws ban members of local election commissions from being fired by their employers.
In his article printed in a newspaper last month, Zubov compared Crimea's annexation with the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1938.
The MGIMO administration said, however, that it had not changed its assessment of Zubov's "behavior." Last month, the MGIMO authorities said Zubov's article "harmed the educational process" and "caused outrage" among teachers and students.
The institute announced on April 11 that it is reversing its decision last month to fire professor Andrei Zubov as he is a member of the election commission in Moscow's Khamovniki district and laws ban members of local election commissions from being fired by their employers.
In his article printed in a newspaper last month, Zubov compared Crimea's annexation with the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1938.
The MGIMO administration said, however, that it had not changed its assessment of Zubov's "behavior." Last month, the MGIMO authorities said Zubov's article "harmed the educational process" and "caused outrage" among teachers and students.
We interviewed Zubov here.
17:22
11.4.2014
Via our news desk, Putin says Russia will fulfill its obligations to its European natural gas clients.
Putin also said April 11 in Moscow that Russia has no plans to halt deliveries to Ukraine although Moscow could make Kyiv pay in advance for deliveries.
He spoke just hours after the European Commission urged Russia to honor its gas contracts.
Separately, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in Washington April 11 the West must consider together how to help Kyiv pay its gas bills to Russia
Ukraine says it cannot agree to pay Moscow's new high prices for natural gas and hopes to buy gas instead from Europe.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Yuriy Prodan said in Kyiv that Ukraine will refer Russia's decision to increase the gas price to an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm.
He spoke just hours after the European Commission urged Russia to honor its gas contracts.
Separately, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in Washington April 11 the West must consider together how to help Kyiv pay its gas bills to Russia
Ukraine says it cannot agree to pay Moscow's new high prices for natural gas and hopes to buy gas instead from Europe.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Yuriy Prodan said in Kyiv that Ukraine will refer Russia's decision to increase the gas price to an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm.
17:01
11.4.2014
16:34
11.4.2014
15:52
11.4.2014
Via our Belarus Service, the president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has said "Belarus is ready to harbor Ukrainians who want to emigrate."