07:18
18.3.2014
According to "The Moscow Times" former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has backed Russia's takeover of Crimea, saying it corrected a historical "mistake."
08:17
18.3.2014
Now #Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria also wants to join #Russia http://t.co/8y5lkXxQ4L
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) March 18, 2014
08:59
18.3.2014
This is interesting...
Russia Today's wildly popular YouTube channel is blocked. Boss @M_Simonyan says she hopes it's a technical error pic.twitter.com/qhg7Ed4wZ6
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 18, 2014
09:21
18.3.2014
More details on the Crimean Tatar man found bound and murdered with signs of torture, tentatively identified http://t.co/uDKvQbrekj
— CatherineFitzpatrick (@catfitz) March 16, 2014
09:58
18.3.2014
One of the last sightings of Crimean Tatar Reshat Ametov, found dead on March 16 with signs of violent death. His wife identified him on March 17.
Human Rights Watch says Ametov, a father of three, was last seen at a peaceful protest in Simferopol on March 3 during which a group of men in military-style jackets led him away.
Last picture of Reshat Ametov in front of the Crimean Parliament. The Crimean Tatar man found tortured & killed. pic.twitter.com/xqhhdSQeYw
— EU Crimean Tatar (@CrimeaEU) March 18, 2014
Human Rights Watch says Ametov, a father of three, was last seen at a peaceful protest in Simferopol on March 3 during which a group of men in military-style jackets led him away.
10:03
18.3.2014
So, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has now arrived in Warsaw as he begins a two-day visit to Poland and Lithuania over the Ukrainian crisis.
This is also just in from the wires:
German media reports say that, amid the ongoing crisis over Crimea, the EU official in charge of enlargement has suggested fast-tracking a long-term offer to Ukraine of membership in the bloc.
Stefan Fuele was quoted in the "Die Welt" newspaper as saying, "If we seriously want to change that part of Eastern Europe affected by the crisis, we should also apply the most powerful tool available to the EU, and that is expansion."
Fuele went on to say that EU enlargement has an "unprecedented changing and stabilizing force."
Ukraine is expected to sign an agreement on closer political cooperation with the European Union on the sidelines of an EU summit on March 21.
A far more wide-reaching free-trade accord is expected to be signed later this year. (welt.de, UNIAN, and pravda.con.ua)
This is also just in from the wires:
German media reports say that, amid the ongoing crisis over Crimea, the EU official in charge of enlargement has suggested fast-tracking a long-term offer to Ukraine of membership in the bloc.
Stefan Fuele was quoted in the "Die Welt" newspaper as saying, "If we seriously want to change that part of Eastern Europe affected by the crisis, we should also apply the most powerful tool available to the EU, and that is expansion."
Fuele went on to say that EU enlargement has an "unprecedented changing and stabilizing force."
Ukraine is expected to sign an agreement on closer political cooperation with the European Union on the sidelines of an EU summit on March 21.
A far more wide-reaching free-trade accord is expected to be signed later this year. (welt.de, UNIAN, and pravda.con.ua)
10:06
18.3.2014
Meanwhile in Moldova...
A Russian newspaper says the head of the Transdniestrian parliament has asked the State Duma to consider the "possibility" of the breakaway Moldovan region becoming part of the Russian Federation.
The "Vedomosti" newspaper reported on March 18 that Mikhail Burla, the speaker of Transdniester's Supreme Soviet, has sent a letter to Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin requesting that Russia's lower chamber of parliament examine the legal ways of facilitating Transdniester's accession to the Russian Federation.
In 2006, Transdniester held a referendum similar to the March 16 referendum in Crimea, in which 97 percent of its population voted in favor of the separatist region joining Russia.
Transdniester, which is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, declared independence in 1990.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester.
Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any nation. (vedomosti.ru, unimedia.md)
A Russian newspaper says the head of the Transdniestrian parliament has asked the State Duma to consider the "possibility" of the breakaway Moldovan region becoming part of the Russian Federation.
The "Vedomosti" newspaper reported on March 18 that Mikhail Burla, the speaker of Transdniester's Supreme Soviet, has sent a letter to Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin requesting that Russia's lower chamber of parliament examine the legal ways of facilitating Transdniester's accession to the Russian Federation.
In 2006, Transdniester held a referendum similar to the March 16 referendum in Crimea, in which 97 percent of its population voted in favor of the separatist region joining Russia.
Transdniester, which is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, declared independence in 1990.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester.
Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any nation. (vedomosti.ru, unimedia.md)
10:15
18.3.2014
Arseniy Yatsenyuk has been clarifying the status of the Russian language in Ukraine:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the Russian language has, in effect, official status and the same capabilities and rights as the Ukrainian language in the regions of Ukraine where Russian-speaking people predominate.
Addressing residents of Ukraine's southern and eastern regions today, Yastsenyuk said guarantees for the Russian language are outlined in Article 10 of the Ukrainian Constitution and were reaffirmed by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov recently.
He also said the issue of Ukraine's admission into NATO "is not on the agenda" but confirmed that Kyiv will sign the political part of an Association Agreement with the EU in Brussels on March 21.
But he said Ukraine does not regard relations with the EU and Russia according to the "all-or-none" principle. (ITAR-TASS, Interfax, and AFP)
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the Russian language has, in effect, official status and the same capabilities and rights as the Ukrainian language in the regions of Ukraine where Russian-speaking people predominate.
Addressing residents of Ukraine's southern and eastern regions today, Yastsenyuk said guarantees for the Russian language are outlined in Article 10 of the Ukrainian Constitution and were reaffirmed by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov recently.
He also said the issue of Ukraine's admission into NATO "is not on the agenda" but confirmed that Kyiv will sign the political part of an Association Agreement with the EU in Brussels on March 21.
But he said Ukraine does not regard relations with the EU and Russia according to the "all-or-none" principle. (ITAR-TASS, Interfax, and AFP)
10:15
18.3.2014
According to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the Crimean conflict is "the most serious crisis since the end of the Cold War."
"If there are no longer any safe and recognized borders," he told Europe 1 radio today, "this means no country, no population is secure."
He says Russia has become "totally isolated."
"If there are no longer any safe and recognized borders," he told Europe 1 radio today, "this means no country, no population is secure."
He says Russia has become "totally isolated."
