14:13
24.3.2014
14:03
24.3.2014
EU sells out Ukrainian gays, withdraws gay rights requirement in visa talks with Ukraine. via Justice Min Petrenko http://t.co/pDuaJexjm4
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) March 24, 2014
13:55
24.3.2014
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Crimea's pro-Russian PM Rustam Temirgaliev calls on Russians to be patriotic and vacation in Crimea this year...
13:51
24.3.2014
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On the topic of Yuriy Mamchur and Belbek, well worth watching the latest dispatch from VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky reporting from the base during the storming by Russian troops. Good footage of Mamchur in action.
13:49
24.3.2014
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman has told journalists that Kyiv's ambassador to Belarus, Mykhaylo Yezhel, was recalled and a note sent to Minsk condemning Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's characterization of Crimea as "part of Russia." The spokesman, Yevhen Perebyynis, said that view contradicts international law and the stance of the "majority of the world's nations."
Asked yesterday about his refusal to publicly support Russia's moves on the peninsula, Lukashenka told reporters in Minsk: "As for recognition or not recognition, Crimea is part of Russia today. You can recognize it or not recognize this, but this will not change anything." Lukashenka added, however, that he thought Russia’s annexation of Crimea had set a "bad precedent."
Asked yesterday about his refusal to publicly support Russia's moves on the peninsula, Lukashenka told reporters in Minsk: "As for recognition or not recognition, Crimea is part of Russia today. You can recognize it or not recognize this, but this will not change anything." Lukashenka added, however, that he thought Russia’s annexation of Crimea had set a "bad precedent."
13:37
24.3.2014
Colonel Yuriy Mamchur, the commander of Ukraine's Belbek airbase, has gone missing since the base fell to Russian troops on Saturday.
Pro-Russian forces had already seized the base's control tower and airfield weeks earlier. Mamchur had deliberately kept his troops unarmed to avoid escalation, but refused to relinquish the base, saying he would not withdraw until told to do so by his superiors.
Nahlah Ayed of CBC News has a gripping account of Mamchur's standoff with a Russian emissary a day before the base fell:
"I didn't invite anyone to come here in the first place," [Mamchur] said. "I have a legal right to be here. If my superiors tell me otherwise, I will go."
The emissary wouldn't budge. "Let me correct you. You are not here legally. Your base is on the territory of a foreign state."
In faraway Moscow, President Vladimir Putin had just signed into law Crimea's absorption into the Russian fold.
The colonel was well aware of this, but he too was unmoved. "Until I get orders from my superiors..."
"Well, you know those orders will never come," was the biting reply from the Russian.
The mustachioed emissary was right.
The lingering question, as Colonel Mamchur and his men waited in limbo, is why.
Where was the new government in Kyiv? The same government that had repeatedly said Ukraine would go to war if Russia dared take Crimea. It had also once announced it had called up the reserves in preparation for combat.
The prime minister was in fact in Brussels, signing a deal on political cooperation with Europe. Otherwise, the government was contending with the chaos that comes with inexperience in governing.
Further, issuing a withdrawal order may be seen as capitulating, and that would be an unsavory position for the government. It chose instead to do nothing and continue with empty bluster.
Without a directive from Kyiv, some bases in Crimea also fell into disarray. At Perevalnoye, Ukrainian troops simply walked out, shortly afterwards replaced by Russians, this time without balaclavas.
Not at Belbek though, Crimea’s largest base, where the colonel just would not be moved.
Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, today ordered all Ukrainian troops to withdraw from Crimea.
Read the CBC story in full here:
13:30
24.3.2014
Interesting set of vox pops by our Russian Service. Muscovites seem happy that Russia is annexing Crimea, unsure about paying for it -- and generally supportive of sanctions against Putin and his inner circle.
13:28
24.3.2014
Another item from RFE/RL's newsdesk -- the Russian ruble can now be used as a legal currency in Crimea:
The Russian ruble became legal tender in the recently annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea as of today.
The chairman of the Bank of Crimea, Nikolai Barilyuk, said earlier that all payments in Crimea can now be made in either Russian rubles or Ukrainian hryvnya, adding that the two currencies will be in dual use until January 1, 2016.
After that, the ruble will become the sole currency in Crimea.
Correspondents report that, on the ground, banks and shops were still dealing almost exclusively in hryvnya today.
Barilyuk also said that Moscow will soon be providing Crimea with monetary aid in the amount of 1 billion rubles ($28 million) to keep the financial situation steady.
Crimea's pro-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said today that some 200,000 retired residents of Crimea will receive their pensions in rubles in several days. (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, AFP)
The chairman of the Bank of Crimea, Nikolai Barilyuk, said earlier that all payments in Crimea can now be made in either Russian rubles or Ukrainian hryvnya, adding that the two currencies will be in dual use until January 1, 2016.
After that, the ruble will become the sole currency in Crimea.
Correspondents report that, on the ground, banks and shops were still dealing almost exclusively in hryvnya today.
Barilyuk also said that Moscow will soon be providing Crimea with monetary aid in the amount of 1 billion rubles ($28 million) to keep the financial situation steady.
Crimea's pro-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said today that some 200,000 retired residents of Crimea will receive their pensions in rubles in several days. (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, AFP)
13:04
24.3.2014
Another update from The Hague, this time in relation to U.S.-Russian cooperation on dealing with Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed hope that the Crimea crisis will not affect Russia's cooperation in international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical stockpiles.
Speaking in The Hague today, Kerry said he hoped "the same motivations that drove Russia to be a partner in this effort will still exist."
Syria's government agreed to destroy its chemical weapons following international condemnation after a chemical attack that killed hundreds around Damascus last year.
The deal was brokered by Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Kerry confirmed that about half of Syria's declared chemical weapons has been shipped out or destroyed within Syria.
Damascus is still several weeks behind schedule in handing over its stockpiles, however.
Lavrov said in The Hague today that all chemical weapons "will be removed from Syria by mid-2014." (Reuters, Interfax)
Speaking in The Hague today, Kerry said he hoped "the same motivations that drove Russia to be a partner in this effort will still exist."
Syria's government agreed to destroy its chemical weapons following international condemnation after a chemical attack that killed hundreds around Damascus last year.
The deal was brokered by Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Kerry confirmed that about half of Syria's declared chemical weapons has been shipped out or destroyed within Syria.
Damascus is still several weeks behind schedule in handing over its stockpiles, however.
Lavrov said in The Hague today that all chemical weapons "will be removed from Syria by mid-2014." (Reuters, Interfax)
12:45
24.3.2014
Amid all the speculation surrounding the eastern city of Donetsk, some residents have launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign for it to join the United Kingdom. The idea is not quite as crazy as it sounds, given that the town was first established in the 1800s by a Welsh industrialist called John Hughes.