10:55
30.3.2014
"The Daily Beast" publishes exclusive photographs that they contend "reveal the truth" about who carried out the shootings of antigovernment protesters in central Kyiv on February 20. "The Daily Beast" says the photos show members of a crack antiterrorist unit known as the Alfa Team in the courtyard of the headquarters of Ukraine’s feared state security service, the SBU, preparing themselves for battle.
The unique photographs and 90 gigabytes of video material shared with The Daily Beast provide strong evidence that the massacre in the Maidan was in fact a vicious and clinical assault ordered by the pro-Russian Yanukovych regime and executed by its arch loyalists.
12:14
30.3.2014
The Ukrainian government has tasked Prime Minister Artseniy Yatsenyuk with creating a council on interethnic harmony and a commissioner for nationalities, according to our Ukrainian Service. Russia's intervention and occupation of Crimea were accompanied by claims from Moscow that ethnic Russians there were the victims of unchecked harassment and violence.
12:26
30.3.2014
Reuters looks at Chechens who were part of the Russian deployment of troops to Crimea ahead of the referendum and their "weary welcome" for Crimeans now that the Ukrainian peninsula has been annexed by Russia. The money quote is from Kheda Saratova, who sits on Chechnya's state human rights council:
"Russia is used to forcing everyone around it into submission and the worst thing is that they force us all to act as though we are happy citizens of Russia," Saratova said.
"Russians are used to doing whatever they want to small nations like ours, but it's not just the Chechens. Crimeans will see the same thing."
"Russians are used to doing whatever they want to small nations like ours, but it's not just the Chechens. Crimeans will see the same thing."
12:36
30.3.2014
12:38
30.3.2014
12:45
30.3.2014
13:08
30.3.2014
Lavrov further digging in his heels ahead of the planned meeting tonight with Kerry via RT in "Lavrov: If West accepts coup-appointed Kiev govt, it must accept a Russian Crimea."
13:12
30.3.2014
In Sevastopol, Crimea, video purportedly shows students walking off in protest when the Russian flag is raised atop a university building:
13:14
30.3.2014
From our news desk, via RFE/RL's Moldovan Service:
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland has met with Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman in Chisinau. The meeting Sunday comes after NATO's top commander warned the small Eastern European country could be Russia's next target after annexing the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
Last week, NATO's top military official, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, warned of a possible Russian incursion across Ukraine to occupy Transdniester. Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester declared independence from Chisinau in 1990 over fears that Romanian-speaking Moldova might seek reunification with neighboring Romania.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester. Russia still has some 1,400 troops in Transdniester.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland has met with Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman in Chisinau. The meeting Sunday comes after NATO's top commander warned the small Eastern European country could be Russia's next target after annexing the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
Last week, NATO's top military official, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, warned of a possible Russian incursion across Ukraine to occupy Transdniester. Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester declared independence from Chisinau in 1990 over fears that Romanian-speaking Moldova might seek reunification with neighboring Romania.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester. Russia still has some 1,400 troops in Transdniester.
13:21
30.3.2014