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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
15:33 11.3.2014
The Crimean independence referendum has launched its own website (note .ru domain) and Twitter feed:
16:04 11.3.2014


RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports that an Astana court today handed down a seven-day jail sentence for activist Makhambet Abzhan, who staged an unsanctioned pro-Ukraine protest outside the Russian Embassy in the Kazakh capital on March 3.

Some observers had previously cited Kazakh restraint in dealing with anti-Russian protests as a sign that the Kazakh administration tacitly disapproved of Russia's incursion in Crimea. Turns out they were just stalling. A court hearing on Abzhan's case was postponed several times before a ruling was finally handed down today.
17:14 11.3.2014
Romania Says AWACS Plane To Start Exercise

Romania's Defense Ministry says a NATO E-3A AWACS plane will fly over Romanian airspace as part of a planned exercise on March 11.

The ministry said on its website that AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) planes fly at an altitude of 9,000 meters.

Their radar can survey an area of up to 31,000 square kilometers and can detect low-flying targets.

The NATO alliance said March 10 it would start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine, where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea.

NATO said AWACS planes will fly from their home air bases in Germany and Britain.

Twelve F-16 U.S. warplanes are due to arrive in Poland by March 13 for planned joint exercises.

Meanwhile, bad weather delayed U.S. naval maneuvers with Romania and Bulgaria in the Black Sea.

(mapn.ro, Reuters)
17:40 11.3.2014
18:50 11.3.2014
According to the agencies, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday spoke on the Ukraine crisis, but their telephone conversation did not yield results.

Kerry spoke with Lavrov after receiving answers to a set of questions the United States had sent to Russia over the weekend to determine whether Russia was ready to resolve the crisis diplomatically.

The State Department on Tuesday said Russia's responses made clear its position has not changed.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov had told Kerry that any solution to Ukraine's crisis must consider the interests of all Ukrainians and also respect "the rights of residents of Crimea to determine their future."
18:51 11.3.2014
Our Tatar-Bashkir Service is reporting that Moscow has invited the veteran leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, for talks amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine's Crimea.

Jemilev is a prominent Soviet-era dissident, a former head of the Crimean Tatars' self-government body -- the Mejlis, and a Ukrainian lawmaker.

He told journalists Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited him to Moscow personally. Jemilev said he is not able to say now if he will go to Moscow. He added that he will make a final decision Wednesday.

Jemilev also said that he has to discuss his possible trip to Moscow with Ukrainian officials. The Mejlis does not recognize Crimea's new pro-Kremlin government that plans to hold a referendum on Crimea joining to Russia.
19:28 11.3.2014
We had a nice little photo gallery earlier on the various Putin-focused magazine covers.

19:32 11.3.2014
We've also started a new blog called Ukraine Unspun:

The information war is in full swing in the tense standoff between Ukraine and Russia. In an attempt to present a clearer picture, #UkraineUnspun will unravel information coming from Russian and Ukrainian media, politicians and activists. Written by Glenn Kates and contributors from RFE/RL.

Check it out here.
19:33 11.3.2014
19:35 11.3.2014

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