08:41
25.3.2014
Contradictory accounts of the death of Right Sector leader Oleksandr Muzychko are emerging. Ukrainian authorities are suggesting he died in a possible clash with security forces.
07:57
25.3.2014
07:56
25.3.2014
07:42
25.3.2014
07:22
25.3.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that not even the wife of Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, who was "abducted" after Ukraine's Belbek Air Base near Sevastopol was stormed by Russian armored vehicles and troops, knows the senior Ukrainian commander's whereabouts. Officials in Kyiv have demanded his release.
07:17
25.3.2014
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov's representative in Crimea, Serhiy Kunitsyn, has announced his resignation on live television over perceived inaction by authorities in Kyiv. Kunitsyn, who served as Crimea's prime minister early last decade and was named a presidential representative on February 27, said he was "ashamed" to be associated with the Ukrainian government's retreat in the face of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
07:00
25.3.2014
There are still obstacles to passage, but a Senate bill on aid and loan guarantees and sanctions related to Russian actions in Ukraine has moved closer to debate, according to Reuters:
A bill providing economic assistance to Ukraine and imposing sanctions over Russia's seizure of Crimea cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Monday, as backers attempted to win passage of the legislation later this week.
By a vote of 78-17, the Senate laid the groundwork for debating a bill that would back a $1 billion loan guarantee for the government in Kiev, provide $150 million in aid for Ukraine and neighboring countries and require sanctions on Russians and Ukrainians responsible for corruption, human rights abuses or undermining stability in Ukraine.
Supporters of the law said Congress should act quickly and forcefully to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from moving further into Ukraine or any neighboring countries.
The measure, however, also includes long-delayed reforms to the International Monetary Fund that are opposed by most Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives, and this has complicated efforts to pass a Ukraine aid bill.
By a vote of 78-17, the Senate laid the groundwork for debating a bill that would back a $1 billion loan guarantee for the government in Kiev, provide $150 million in aid for Ukraine and neighboring countries and require sanctions on Russians and Ukrainians responsible for corruption, human rights abuses or undermining stability in Ukraine.
Supporters of the law said Congress should act quickly and forcefully to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from moving further into Ukraine or any neighboring countries.
The measure, however, also includes long-delayed reforms to the International Monetary Fund that are opposed by most Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives, and this has complicated efforts to pass a Ukraine aid bill.
06:37
25.3.2014
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul had this to say about the Russia-Ukraine situation in a telephone call with journalists organized by "Foreign Affairs" magazine:
On possible Ukrainian resistance should Putin move Russian forces further into Ukraine:
“Those eastern regions out there are not divided neatly between Russians and Ukrainians on the east and the west. Rather the Russians are concentrated in the big cities, the countryside[s] are surrounded by ethnic Ukrainians. And if he does move in there, I think there will be resistance. … I doubt it’ll be organized military resistance, but you’ll have guerilla warfare for months if not years. And so he’s got to calculate that into his analysis as well.”
On Putin’s view of relations with the West:
“Putin has made it clear that he doesn’t care about what the West thinks.… He’s indifferent to integration. And he’s prepared to pay the costs of going a different direction.”
On Russia’s investment climate amid sanctions and the Crimea crisis:
“The number of individuals I know -- Russians and American -- who are extremely nervous about...investments in Russia is quite...a big number, I’ll just put it at that. So I don’t think anybody is treating this new period with any complacency. I feel a lot of anxiety.”
On the role of long-term support for the Ukrainian government, financially and otherwise:
“If Ukraine falls apart, if they don’t institute governance, if they don’t in some way isolate and marginalize the nondemocratic political forces that are still a part of what’s happening inside Ukraine, then that’ll be a major disaster for Europe and the United States. So, to me, that is the key piece. And I hope people understand the gravity of that.”
“Those eastern regions out there are not divided neatly between Russians and Ukrainians on the east and the west. Rather the Russians are concentrated in the big cities, the countryside[s] are surrounded by ethnic Ukrainians. And if he does move in there, I think there will be resistance. … I doubt it’ll be organized military resistance, but you’ll have guerilla warfare for months if not years. And so he’s got to calculate that into his analysis as well.”
On Putin’s view of relations with the West:
“Putin has made it clear that he doesn’t care about what the West thinks.… He’s indifferent to integration. And he’s prepared to pay the costs of going a different direction.”
On Russia’s investment climate amid sanctions and the Crimea crisis:
“The number of individuals I know -- Russians and American -- who are extremely nervous about...investments in Russia is quite...a big number, I’ll just put it at that. So I don’t think anybody is treating this new period with any complacency. I feel a lot of anxiety.”
On the role of long-term support for the Ukrainian government, financially and otherwise:
“If Ukraine falls apart, if they don’t institute governance, if they don’t in some way isolate and marginalize the nondemocratic political forces that are still a part of what’s happening inside Ukraine, then that’ll be a major disaster for Europe and the United States. So, to me, that is the key piece. And I hope people understand the gravity of that.”
06:14
25.3.2014
20:38
24.3.2014
Barring major developments, we do not expect any more posts for March 24.