18:02
8.3.2014
http://t.co/4AQNzuTjS4 Ukrainian Rada MP Oleg Lyashko flies to Simferopol to confront separatists, who don't let him leave the airport.
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 8, 2014
17:46
8.3.2014
w/ reports of new minefield btwn #Crimea & rest of #Ukraine, note #Russia isn't signatory to @MineBanTreaty but Ukraine is. #crimeainvasion
— Andy Heil (@Andy_Heil) March 8, 2014
17:41
8.3.2014
And this via AFP: U.S. President Barack Obama and French President warn Russia of "new measures" if Moscow doesn't de-escalate crisis in Ukraine.
Presidents Francois Hollande of France and Barack Obama of the United States on Saturday warned of "new measures" against Russia if it fails to make progress on defusing the crisis in Ukraine, the French presidency said.
In a phone call on Saturday, Hollande and Obama insisted on the "need for Russia to withdraw forces sent to Crimea since the end of February and to do everything to allow the deployment of international observers," it said.
In a phone call on Saturday, Hollande and Obama insisted on the "need for Russia to withdraw forces sent to Crimea since the end of February and to do everything to allow the deployment of international observers," it said.
17:37
8.3.2014
17:35
8.3.2014
More scenes from the pro-Ukraine protest in Simferopol today:
Activists hold pro-#Ukraine demonstration in #Simferopol on March 8 http://t.co/OYkpv0Op9G via @sia_vlasova @KyivPost pic.twitter.com/MXGVqqmdNe
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 8, 2014
17:33
8.3.2014
17:31
8.3.2014
All the Russian troop movement today has gotten Carl Bildt's attention:
OSCE observers prevented from entering Crimea. And large Russian troops movements observed. Preparations for southern Ukraine?
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) March 8, 2014
17:29
8.3.2014
RFE/RL's Russian Service reports on a protest in Crimea by women -- on International Wonen's Day -- against Russia's military incursion in Crimea.
17:24
8.3.2014
Russia's Interfax news agency is reporting that former oil tycoon MIkhail Khodorkovsky will give a talk in Kyiv on March 10 on "rights and freedoms."
17:22
8.3.2014
MIchael McFaul, the recently departed U.S. Ambassador to Russia, says in Slate that Russia's intervention in Crimea effectively kills Vladimir Putin's Eurasian Union project.
The money quote:
The money quote:
“I don’t think it’s a fait accompli that Crimea will be occupied forever,” he said. “It’s a big if. But if it happens, it destroys the project. There’s no doubt about it. Most importantly, if that tragic scenario plays out, you have made sure that the rest of Ukraine will never have any interest in joining a Eurasian Union. It just changes the electoral politics within Ukraine. The only mechanism he’ll have left is coercive power—he’ll coerce countries into joining. But the size of the Ukrainian economy and population just dwarfs everybody else in the former Soviet Union who could join. Ukraine was always the big prize, and he’s just guaranteed that it’s now over.”