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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
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In the Crimean "referendum," the local election commission is requiring journalists "not to distribute materials of a negative character." Only positive.
08:48 12.3.2014



RFE/RL's Russian Service is reporting that LDPR lawmaker Roman Khudyakov has asked state prosecutors to examine Mikhail Khodorkovsky's March 10 speech in Kyiv for possible extremist sentiment.

Khudyakov says Khodorkovsky, speaking before a packed hall of university students, accused Russia of distributing false propaganda about recent events in Ukraine and giving the former government of Viktor Yanukovych the go-ahead to shoot at protesters during clashes in Kyiv.

Khudyakov said the actions constitute criminal behavior under Russian libel law. The Russian State Duma has also noted that Khodorkovsky, who was released from jail in December following a presidential pardon, publicly promised not to engage in political activities.
08:58 12.3.2014
Mustafa Jemilev (right), with his lawyer
Mustafa Jemilev (right), with his lawyer

Mustafa Jemilev, the former head of the Crimean Tatar assembly, or Mejlis, spoke to RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service shortly before departing for talks in Moscow this morning.

Jemilev said a meeting with Vladimir Putin is not yet certain, and that the Crimean Tatar community's sole demand is the withdrawal of Russian forces from Crimea. He said none of the decisions adopted by the Crimean parliament in recent days are legitimate, and that the parliament -- which is proceeding with an independence referendum this weekend -- is a "separatist structure."
09:29 12.3.2014

Take a cool 360-degree tour of Viktor Yanukovych's Mezhyhirya residence here:
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RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports:

The veteran leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, who is in Moscow for talks, hopes to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Our main condition is the withdrawal of Russian forces. Then we can talk about everything else."

Jemilev went to Moscow at the invitation of the former president of Russia's Tatarstan Republic, Mintimer Shaimiyev.

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