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(Reuters) – Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders “the ground will burn under their feet”. With over half the votes counted, 95.5 percent had chosen the option of annexation by Moscow, the head of the referendum commission, Mikhail Malyshev, said two hours after polls closed. Turnout was 83 percent, he added […]
(Reuters) – Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine will boomerang back on the United States and that Crimea has the right to self-determination as armed men tried to seize another Ukrainian military base on the peninsula. In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against “hasty and reckless steps” that could harm Russian-American relations, the foreign ministry said on Friday. […]
The 2014 Winter Paralympics have begun in Sochi, Russia. Just one Ukraine athlete participated in the opening ceremony, amid simmering tensions over Crimea. After all 45 teams had taken part in the opening ceremony at the Fisht Stadium on Friday, the Games were officially opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I declare the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games open,” he said. Ukraine was among those nations that participated in the opening ceremony, but warned it could […]
(Reuters) – Ukraine’s Paralympic chief said on Friday his team would quit the Winter Paralympic Games if Russia invaded his home country, adding that he hoped the competition would be able to spread peace instead. Russia is holding the Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi at a time when it is being criticized for its actions in Ukraine’s southern region of Crimea, where the West accuses Russia of seizing military and government institutions. […]
(Reuters) – When protest leaders in Ukraine helped oust a president widely seen as corrupt, they became heroes of the barricades. But as they take places in the country’s new government, some are facing uncomfortable questions about their own values and associations, not least alleged links to neo-fascist extremists. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin claims Ukraine has fallen into the hands of far-right fascist groups, and some Western experts have also raised concerns about the influence […]
The EU and US have both announced preliminary steps against Russia over the situation in Crimea. Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU economic sanctions could follow within days unless Russia changes tack. The European Union announced that it would suspend talks with Russia on visa matters after a hastily-convened leaders’ summit to address the Crimean crisis on Thursday afternoon. The European Council statement also announced the postponement of ongoing negotiations, started in 2008, seeking a more […]
BY ALISSA DE CARBONNEL AND LUKE BAKER (Reuters) – Crimea’s parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days’ time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He […]
Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has called Crimea’s planned referendum to join the Russia Federation “illegitimate.” The Black Sea peninsula remains an “integral” part of Ukraine, he said. In a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian premier Yatsenyuk urged Moscow to withdraw its troops to their barracks in Crimea and to end its support for separatism on the peninsula. “We urge the Russian government to pull back its military into barracks, not to […]
As diplomats met in Paris to lower tensions between Ukraine and Russia, a number of incidents on the ground in Ukraine are fanning the flames. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on both sides to “lower their temperature.” While there have been no indications of outright violence, instances of intimidation and unrest have been reported in Crimea on Wednesday. Robert Serry, a special United Nations envoy in the autonomous Ukrainian region on an observer mission, […]
(Reuters) – High-level diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine made little apparent headway at talks in Paris on Wednesday with Moscow and Washington at odds and Russia’s foreign minister refusing to recognize his Ukrainian counterpart. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said discussions would continue in the coming days in an attempt to stabilize the crisis and he expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again in Rome on Thursday. “Don’t assume […]
(Reuters) – Holed up on their bases, Ukraine’s besieged servicemen and the Russians surrounding them in Crimea are locked in a standoff that at times is tense and at others surreal. Almost a week after Russian forces began their swift and bloodless takeover of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, there is a standoff as the two sides dig in and play a waiting game. The Russians have swatted down isolated attempts by the Ukrainian forces […]
MANILA, March 5 (Philippine News Agency) — Malacanang on Wednesday assured that concerned government agencies will continue looking after the welfare of Filipino workers in Ukraine with the ongoing political crisis there. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said during a Palace briefing that according to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, there are about 172 Filipinos in Ukraine. Lacierda however said, upon consulting the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), that they were not situated in the troubled Crimea […]
