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Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya speaks to the UN General Assembly on March 27.
Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya speaks to the UN General Assembly on March 27.

Live Blog: UN Backs Ukraine Integrity

Final Summary For March 27

-- The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution that affirms Ukraine's territorial integrity.

-- The IMF has announced "a staff-level agreement" with Kyiv on assistance of $14 billion-$18 billion in conjunction with a reform program that will "unlock" up to $27 billion over the next two years, pending final approval next month. Tthe U.S. Congress has also passed an aid bill for Ukraine.

-- Ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko has announced plans to run for president.

-- Members of the Right Sector have been holding a demonstration outside the Ukrainian parliament building to vent their anger at the killing of prominent member Oleksander Muzychko earlier in the week.

-- Six Ukrainian military officers detained by pro-Russian troops in Crimea have been released, including Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, but five others are still being held captive.

-- Anonymous sources quoted by CNN say U.S. intelligence "concludes it is more likely than previously thought that Russian forces will enter eastern Ukraine."

-- U.S. President Barack Obama, in the keynote speech of his visit to Europe, chided Russia for its use of "brute force" in Ukraine and vowed that a determined alliance of the United States and Europe will prevail over time.


*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
12:06 8.3.2014
Ekho Moskvy interviews acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya

12:11 8.3.2014
WIre services reporting that Russia is threatening to freeze foreign military inspections, including those related to START Treaty.


And this, via AFP:

"Russia is considering halting foreign inspections of its strategic weapons arsenal, including nuclear-capable missiles, in response to "threats" from the West over the Ukraine crisis, the defence ministry said Saturday.

"The unfounded threats towards Russia from the United States and NATO over its policy on Ukraine are seen by us as an unfriendly gesture that allows the declaration of force majeure circumstances," a high-ranking defence ministry official, who was not named, said in a statement to all Russian news agencies.

The inspections that could be halted are carried out in line with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the United States and the Vienna Document between Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member states."
12:13 8.3.2014
Visegrad states urge United States to increase natural gas exports to Europe in case of a Russian cutoff.

Via AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the possibility that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Ukraine.

Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal Friday in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. A similar letter was expected to be sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, asks for Congress to support speedier approval of natural gas exports, noting that the "presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe."
12:17 8.3.2014
12:46 8.3.2014
Latest meme emerging from Moscow. Russians of military age traveling to Ukraine are being "beaten, tortured, and detained" by Ukrainian military and Rights Sector.

Here's a Facebook post by Russian nationalist Alksandr Dugin:


And meanwhile, Kremlin mouthpiece Sergei Markov claims war could be imminent

12:52 8.3.2014
Meanwhile in Donetsk, RFE/RL's Tom Balmforth says a column of a few thousand pro-Russia demonstrators just walked down the city's central street from Lenin Square on their way to the regional administration building.
12:58 8.3.2014
13:00 8.3.2014
Link to a live cam outside the Donetsk Oblast Administration. Pro-Russian demonstrators currently marching to building;
13:01 8.3.2014
13:12 8.3.2014
Russian website set up to "expose traitors" who oppose intervention in Ukraine.

Hat tip to Andrei Soldatov for flagging this:

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