From our news desk:
Ukraine Imposes Sanctions On Five Russian Banks
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has imposed sanctions on five banks with Russian capital functioning in Ukraine.
A statement on the presidential website on March 16 said that Poroshenko signed a decree introducing sanctions on Sberbank, VS Bank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank, and BM Bank for a one-year period.
The proposal to introduce sanctions was made by the National Security and Defense Council on March 15.
Poroshenko's decree ordered the Foreign Ministry to inform European Union and the United States about the sanctions and ask them to introduce similar measures against the banks.
The sanctions come after several days of protests across Ukraine against Sberbank and other Russia banks, which began after Sberbank said it would comply with Russian President Vladimir Putin's February 18 decree ordering Russian authorities to recognize identity documents issued by separatists who hold parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Sberbank on March 9 retracted its earlier statement and said it would not recognize separatist-issued documents.
New York Times on the suspension of trade:
From the Russian embassy in South Africa:
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, March 15, 2016. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.