Breaking: US military sends "survey & assessment" team from Euro Command to Kiev to advise on #MH17 crash site access & investigation
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 5, 2014
Personal belongings but no human remains found at MH17 site today. Official statement: http://t.co/C8FXieYqU5
— Simon Kruse (@crusoes) August 5, 2014
Rebels at site said they interrupted search due to security and alleged Ukr "provocation". True or not, it cut short the search, yet again.
— Simon Kruse (@crusoes) August 5, 2014
The government of Moldova, where nerves are being tested by the crisis between Moscow and neighboring Ukraine, has called on Russia to withdraw its troops and weapons from Moldova's separatist region, Transdniester, according to RFE/RL's Moldovan Service. Here's more, with additional reporting by AP:
The Foreign Ministry appealed to Russia on August 5 to pull out its 1,500 troops and thousands of tons of weapons from Transdniester in accordance with commitments made at a 1999 summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Moscow on August 4 accused Moldova and Ukraine of trying to block Russia's access to its troops in Transdniester.
Transdniester broke away from Moldova in 1990 over fears it planned to reunite with Romania. Some 1,500 people died in a 1992 war.
Moscow earlier this month placed an embargo on Moldovan fruit, after Chisinau signed an association agreement in June with the European Union.
Moscow Freaks Out About Federalization Rally...In Siberia
Following the UN refugee agency's suggestion that at least 285,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine due to the conflict -- "a low estimate," according to UNHCR European director Vincent Cochetel -- Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has called for UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the Ukrainian crisis.
Via our newsroom:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to draft a response to sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia over its perceived backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said the government must make sure the retaliatory measures do not hurt Russians.
In comments on August 5, Putin said that "political instruments of pressure on the economy are unacceptable. They contradict all norms and rules."
He said the government had already preposed a number of response measures to the Western sanctions, adding that "in current conditions, in order to ensure the interests of our producers, we could very well think about this now."
The latest round of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union last week target Russia's oil and defense industry, while restricting the access of Russian state-owned banks to Western financial markets.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, Interfax
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul (@McFaul) and the Russian Foreign Ministry (@MFA_Russia) are debating Ukraine situation right now via Twitter:
More on the growing dispute between Russian authorities and BBC's Russian Service over a planned protest targeting Putin's policies vis-a-vis Ukraine, via AFP:
Russia threatened Tuesday to block the website of the BBC's Russian Service because it reported an activist's public appeal to get people to attend a rally mocking Moscow's policy in Ukraine.
The BBC last week ran an interview with Artyom Loskutov -- an artist who has developed a reputation for performances that poke fun at the Kremlin -- promoting a demonstration in favour of giving Siberia more rights within Russia.
The idea had been making the rounds in opposition circles for weeks because it offered a seemingly legal way to mock Moscow's call for decentralisation in Ukraine to support ethnic Russians there while keeping tight control at home.