Good morning,
We'll get the live blog rolling again today after a short hiatus with these news items that were posted yesterday:
Russians In Ukraine Blocked From Voting In Presidential Election
KYIV -- Russian voters in Ukraine were blocked from casting their ballots in Russia's presidential election on March 18, as Ukrainian authorities stepped up security outside diplomatic facilitates and nationalists staged anti-Moscow protests.
Two days prior to the election, in which President Vladimir Putin was heading for a landslide win, Ukrainian authorities announced that only Russian diplomats in Ukraine would be allowed to cast ballots at Russian diplomatic missions.
The move came in retaliation for Russia's annexation of Crimea, which on March 18 voted in a presidential election for the first time since it was taken over in 2014.
Ukrainian police on March 18 guarded the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and consular offices in Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv, while nationalist groups protested the election at Russian diplomatic compounds.
Members of Ukrainian national groups gathered on a street near the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, having previously pledged to prevent Russians from voting in the election on Ukrainian territory.
In Kharkiv, Russian nationals came to their consulate in the eastern Ukrainian city but said they were not able to vote. Right-wing activists at the scene brought a mock coffin with an effigy of Putin inside.
One Russian voter in Kharkiv told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that he wanted to cast his ballot in the election but was unable to. He said he planned to travel to the Russian city of Belgorod, 80 kilometers away, to vote.
Russia accused Ukraine of violating international norms.
"It is an open interference into the purely domestic affairs of the Russian Federation, which can entail escalation of tension in the already strained bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by TASS on March 18.
Ukraine's National Police said that there were no major disruptions of public order in the country on March 18.
Millions of ethnic Russians live in Ukraine, but it is unclear how many are registered to vote in Russia.
Ukraine is protesting voting in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Russia exactly four years ago in a referendum largely rejected by the international community as illegitimate. That came just a month after Moscow sent in troops without insignia to secure military bases and other key sites on the peninsula.
Kyiv is also angry with Russia’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting since April 2014.
Russia's Central Election Commission says that 72,000 Russian citizens have registered with the Russian consulate in Ukraine, Gazeta.ru reported.
France has voiced opposition to the Russian presidential voting in Crimea.
"Challenging borders by force is contrary to international law, including commitments made by the Russian Federation," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on March 18.
"Four years after the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and [the city of] Sevastopol, France remains firmly attached to the full restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders," the French statement said.
With reporting by TASS, AP, AFP, and Gazeta.ru
In Kyiv, Saakashvili Supporters Demand Poroshenko's Resignation
KYIV -- Supporters of opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili demonstrated in Kyiv on March 18 to demand the resignation of President Petro Poroshenko.
Hundreds of people gathered in the Ukrainian capital in Independence Square -- Maidan Nezalezhnosti -- the epicenter of the Euromaidan protests that drove a Moscow-friendly president from power four years ago.
Activists dismantled parts of an exhibit dedicated to Russia's illegal seizure of Crimea, which protesters claim authorities recently erected in order to block their antigovernment rallies.
Security was tightened, with several buses with police parked nearby.
No incidents between police and protesters were reported, though the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that two people had been detained in connection with the dismantling of the installation.
"In order not to escalate the situation, the police did not interfere, but recorded the actions of those who did it," the ministry's press service said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Later on March 18, several dozen protesters picketed outside Poroshenko's residence in the village of Kozin, near Kyiv. Activists said that some of the protesters were blocked by law enforcement officers.
The demonstration came weeks after police in Kyiv dismantled a protest camp set up by Saakashvili's backers near the national parliament building.
More than 100 protesters were detained and 20 wounded in that police raid on March 3.
The tent camp was set up last year by supporters of Saakashvili, a former Georgian president who later became governor of Ukraine's Odesa region.
Saakashvili later resigned from the Odesa governor's post and went into opposition against Poroshenko. He was deported from Ukraine to Poland in February.
The camp was an offshoot of a broader opposition movement that holds regular peaceful protests in Kyiv to demand the resignation of Poroshenko over stalled reforms.
With reporting by UNIAN
Editor's Note: The Ukraine live blog will not be updated on Sunday, March 18, so that we may devote our resources to the Russian presidential vote and our Kremlin Countdown blog. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage of the Ukraine crisis.
That concludes our live blog for today. Please join us again tomorrow for more coverage of the Ukraine crisis.