10:09
21.3.2014
Agency reports via our news desk:
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will refrain from imposing further retaliatory sanctions against Washington, one day after the United States introduced visa bans and asset freezes against Russians. The Russian Foreign Ministry released its own list on Thursday of nine Americans banned from entering Russia, including Senator John McCain, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House speaker John Boehner. Putin also said Friday in a meeting of his Security Council that Moscow will not introduce a visa regime for Ukrainians wanting to enter Russia. He said imposing visa regulations against Ukrainians would cause "millions of innocent Ukrainians" to suffer.
10:01
21.3.2014
Putin says Russia won't be responding to US sanctions, but looks like they're going to ban foreign medical equipment http://t.co/g7yG2e9qL5
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 21, 2014
09:46
21.3.2014
Visa and MasterCard have blocked transactions handled by sanction-hit Russian banks.
Visa и MasterCard заблокировали операции ряда российских банков #новости #крым http://t.co/BHVBloUYBN
— Радио Свобода (@SvobodaRadio) March 21, 2014
09:38
21.3.2014
#Ukraine Association Agreement signed: firm #EU’s commitment to #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/BDmFTwu6hy
— Dalia Grybauskaitė (@Grybauskaite_LT) March 21, 2014
09:36
21.3.2014
Here's the text of Van Rompuy's statement:
"Today we are signing the Agreement's political provisions. It shows our steadfast support for the course the people of Ukraine have courageously pursued. Today is but the opening act: we expect to soon sign the Agreement's remaining parts, not east the economic provisions -- together with the political ones they form a single instrument."
EU is by the new Ukraine's side http://t.co/2MGbN6XGvi
— Herman Van Rompuy (@euHvR) March 21, 2014
09:31
21.3.2014
Reuters also has RIA-Novosti quoting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saying Kyiv should be made to repay $11 billion on a gas deal that should be scrapped.
09:29
21.3.2014
Via Reuters:
Interfax has quoted Foreign Minister Lavrov as saying Russia has "practically agreed" a deal to allow OSCE monitors into Ukraine.
09:21
21.3.2014
Important moment: Political provisions of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement now signed pic.twitter.com/QWIxLCX9us
— Herman Van Rompuy (@euHvR) March 21, 2014
09:10
21.3.2014
Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, has ratified a treaty to annex Ukraine's Crimea. The lower house, the State Duma, overwhelmingly approved the agreement on March 20.
09:05
21.3.2014
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has signed the political chapters of an Association Agreement with the European Union in Brussels, a highly symbolic move amid international tensions over Russia's annexation of Crimea.