LIVE. Revolt in Ukraine.

[The TeeJ of Philly]

http://gawker.com/were-glued-to-this-terrifying-livestream-of-kievs-fie-1525268291?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

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I have no idea what's going on, why it's going on, or will I act like I know, but holy fuck balls. This video is crazy. But there's a pic on there of a protestor taking cover with a fucking rainbow over him.

[GM Franchise]

Tensions high in Ukraine after at least 21 die in fiery clashes



http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/18/world/europe/ukraine-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Downtown Kiev was aglow in fire early Wednesday, as demonstrators undeterred by a bloody day on the streets staked their claim to the heart of the Ukrainian capital and, they hope, the heart of the country itself.

Such flames have been a constant for three months, acting as fiery barricades all around Kiev's Maidan, or Independence Square, for protesters. Yet the flames grew more ominous on Tuesday as at least 21 people died in fresh clashes between government forces and activists.

What began with protests over President Viktor Yanukovych's backpedaling from a trade pact with the European Union -- a move that the opposition maligned, accusing Yanukovych of trying to cozy up to Russia rather than the West -- has spawned into something much larger.

In addition to new elections, the opposition is calling for constitutional reforms to transfer more power from the presidency to the parliament.

Yanukovych and his allies have responded with some concessions, even offering places in government to opposition leaders. But on-again, off-again talks have gone nowhere, with the opposition refusing to budge politically and from its positions in the center of Kiev.
'
None of that changed after a face-to-face meeting overnight between Yanukovych and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Klitschko said there effectively was "no discussion." According to his Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms party, the president demanded protesters "stop the standoff" and put down their weapons -- an accusation that Klitschko claimed is unfounded.

"I think the authorities should immediately pull back the police and stop the blood, because people are dying," Klitschko said. "I told Yanukovich this. How can we negotiate when there is blood being spilled? Unfortunately, he does not understand it."

Tuesday's violence followed what seemed like a rare breakthrough.

Protesters pulled back Sunday from Kiev's City Hall and unlocked streets in the city center after the government said it'd drop charges against those arrested in the political unrest.

Then everything fell apart Tuesday.

The speaker of parliament's refusal to allow amendments that would limit the president's powers and restore the constitution to what it was in 2004 angered many in the opposition.

The government's prosecutor general, meanwhile, accused the opposition of breaking "the truce" and, therefore, setting the stage for the crackdown.

"For the sake of pursuing their own political interests, they neglected all previously reached agreements and put lives and the peace of millions of Kiev residents under threat," said Viktor Pshonka, Ukraine's prosecutor general.

Whoever was to blame, there was no dispute Tuesday was the deadliest day -- by far -- in the political unrest.

Riot police used water cannons, stun grenades and other means to force their way through protesters, with video showing some of them toting shields and swinging sticks as they barreled through. Some demonstrators fought back, swinging what looked like baseball bats or using other means.

Protesters also set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions. Authorities accused them of firing guns at security forces. A CNN employee at the scene saw demonstrators carrying pellet guns, though not with live ammunition.

One video showed an armored personnel carrier charging toward demonstrators barricades, only to be inundated by a flurry of what appeared to be Molotov cocktails. The vehicle then burst into flames.

All the moving parts, different tactics and raw emotions contributed to a violent, chaotic melee in the center of Ukraine's capital. Officials warned people to stay indoors and shuttered metro stations to help control the situation.

The situation hardly calmed as night descended. Black smoke and bright flames from burning tires continued to rage around Independence Square, just a few blocks from parliament. Small explosions regularly erupted all night -- the product of protesters' fireworks and, perhaps, the stun grenades that police have been using to clear the crowds.

Demonstrators also worked through the night to build up their barricades, by forming human chains to pass bricks, rocks and wood up their front lines in anticipation of another police offensive.

Ukrainian security forces did indeed move forward, despite a barrage of rocks, before halting their advance -- for now, at least.

Kiev was the center of the action, just like it has been all winter, with nine police officers, 11 protesters and an employee from the ruling party's headquarters among those killed, according to officials.

But it wasn't just the capital. Police confirmed the unrest has spread to western Ukraine, with protesters attacking police and local government offices in a number of regions.

Blame game, calls for restraint

Pshonka, Ukraine's prosecutor general, blamed protesters for the violence that he said that -- in addition to those killed -- injured at least 100 others. The organizers of a rally Tuesday that descended into violence will be held accountable "for every single person injured, every car burned and every window broken," he said.

"Today, we were able to see that only the government is interested in peaceful resolution of the situation," Pshonka said. "Opposition leaders should take the responsibility for everything happening in the street of Kiev today."

Opposition leaders painted their supporters as the victims, not the aggressors.

Klitschko, a former world class boxer turned politician, accused police of "cruelly shooting at people in central Kiev."

And Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- an opposition leader from a party other than Klitschko's -- made a public appeal to Yanukovych: "Do not let Ukraine become a country covered with blood. Pull back the police and announce a cease-fire. Then we will negotiate."

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden himself pressed Yanukovych in a phone call, with the White House saying "the government bears special responsibility to de-escalate the situation."

Kerry: United States, EU stand with Ukraine's people

On the flip side, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti's story on the latest Kiev unrest noted Moscow's persistent support for Yanukovych and its accusation -- made earlier this week from foreign ministry spokesman Alexander

Lukashevich -- that Washington is trying to tell "the authorities of a sovereign state what they should do next and how they should do it."

Such international back-and-forth is especially significant in the Ukraine, given not only its geographic and political position betwixt Europe and Russia and the origins of the latest unrest.

It began in November with Yanukovych's decision to scuttle an European Union trade pact that the opposition hoped would bring the Ukraine closer to the West, and improve its economy in the process.

The next month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would buy $15 billion in Ukrainian debt and slash the price Kiev pays for its gas.

As the months rolled on, the conflict expanded beyond the long-simmering discord over whether Ukraine should align more with the West or with Russia.

The opposition has pressed to change how the Eastern European nation's government operates, namely through constitutional and other reforms that would -- among other things -- shift powers away from its president and toward parliament.

Stop the ultimatums, Russia tells Ukraine protesters

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Truce crumbles amid gunfire in Ukraine, protesters claim 100 dead



http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/20/world/europe/ukraine-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- A short-lived truce crumbled Thursday as gunfire erupted at Independence Square, the center of anti-government protests and an increasingly violent crisis that threatens catastrophe for this divided nation.

The head of the protesters' medical service said 100 people died and 500 were injured in clashes on Thursday, just hours after the government declared a truce in fighting that had shocked world leaders with the deaths of 28 people two days before.

The Ukrainian government has not released its own casualty figures, but Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko said 25 police officers had been wounded and an unspecified number of them had died. Some others had been taken hostage, he said.

If Thursday's death toll is confirmed, it would make it the deadliest day in Ukraine since protests began.

"I am a Ukrainian"  A Ukrainian protester aims a gun in the direction of suspected sniper fire Thursday, February 20, in Kiev, Ukraine. Violence has intensified in Kiev's Independence Square, which has been the center of anti-government protests for the past few months.  Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have packed the square since November, when President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision on a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia. 

The violence inflames a crisis that started in November, when President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia. Ukraine has long been divided between historic loyalties to Europe and its eastern neighbor.

It's unclear what prompted Thursday's clashes. CNN crews at the scene reported that as security forces were moving away from the area, a group of protesters pursued them throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Zakharchenko said the violence had been "provoked exclusively by the opposition leaders," echoing an earlier statement from Yanukovych's office accusing protesters of breaking the truce.

"The opposition used the negotiation period to buy time, to mobilize and get weapons to protesters," the statement from the President's office said.

However, a doctor volunteering to treat protesters, Olga Bogomolets, accused government forces of shooting to kill, saying she had treated 13 people she believed had been targeted by "professional snipers."

"They were shot directly to their hearts, their brain and to their neck," she said. "They didn't give any chance to doctors, for us, to save lives."

CNN could not independently confirm Bogomolets' claim of sniper fire.

At a hotel converted into a triage center, bodies covered in bloodied sheets lay on the floor. Orthodox priests prayed over them.

Diplomatic efforts under way

Beyond Kiev's chaotic center, European Union officials were scheduled to meet Thursday in an urgent session to discuss possible sanctions against the Ukrainian government, which could include freezing assets and restricting the visas of officials deemed responsible for violence in that country, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Twitter.

He was in Ukraine's capital Thursday, along with foreign ministers from Germany and Poland, meeting with various opposition leaders and Yanukovych ahead of the emergency session in Brussels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the Ukrainian President to accept European help in talks with the anti-government opposition, Merkel's office said Thursday.

Russia's foreign ministry appeared to criticize Western diplomatic efforts, according to a report by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

"The ongoing attempts to obtrusively intervene from outside, threat with sanctions or trying to influence the situation in any other ways are inappropriate and can't lead to anything good but can only aggravate the confrontation," the report quoted spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.

As the protests continued, anger over the rejected trade deal with the EU morphed into resentment of Yanukovych, his closeness to Russia, and the power he wields.

The violence caused political fallout in the President's own party and elsewhere.

Kiev Mayor Volodymyr Makeenko announced his resignation from the country's ruling party, according to the city administration website. The same post also announced that the city's metro transit system is reopening. Government officials had closed the system to prevent protesters from reaching Independence Square, also known as Maidan.

At the Sochi Olympics, Ukrainian athletes wearing black mourning bands held a moment of silence Thursday for fellow citizens slain in the violence erupting in Kiev, the Ukrainian Olympic committee said.

Thursday's violent developments came just hours after Yanukovych announced a truce -- and opposition leaders agreed to abide by it.

New video from the fiery Ukraine clash Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, a former world-class boxer, met with Yanukovych Wednesday -- discussions that led to the truce.

They were expected to meet again Thursday, but it was unclear if that meeting would still happen after the most recent violence.

Senior officials in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration told CNN Wednesday they were bracing for Ukraine to intensify its crackdown under pressure from Russia.

"Things have gotten very bad," one official said. "The government is speaking in very nasty, aggressive and confrontational terms. It signals they are prepared to do something."

Analysts warned there was little that outside pressure could do, especially if the Ukrainian military gets involved on the side of the government cracking down on protesters.

"My own hunch," said Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, "is this is going to continue to escalate."

[Triple B]

If that picture with the rainbow doesn't win the Pulitzer nothing will.  Wow.

[Triple B]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/22/oust-yanukovich-parliament_n_4837884.html

Ukraine Parliament Votes To Oust Yanukovich, Sets May Election

* Events move rapidly after 82 killed in Kiev fighting

* Changes would bring Ukraine closer to West

* Kiev parliament sets early election for May 25

* Opposition leader Tymoshenko freed from prison

* Yanukovich gives TV interview from Kharkiv in northeast

By Pavel Polityuk and Matt Robinson

KIEV, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament voted on Saturday to remove President Viktor Yanukovich, who abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup after a week of fighting in the streets of the capital.


Parliament also freed his arch-nemesis, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who walked free from the hospital where she had been jailed, completing a radical transformation in the former Soviet republic of 46 million people.

The apparent toppling of the pro-Russian leader, after bloodshed in Kiev that saw 82 people killed and the centre of the capital transformed into an inferno, looks likely to pull Ukraine away from Moscow's orbit and closer to Europe.

It is also a stark reversal for Russian President Vladimir Putin's dream of recreating as much as possible of the Soviet Union in a new Eurasian Union, in which Moscow had counted on Yanukovich to deliver Ukraine as a central member.

Members of the Ukrainian parliament, which abandoned Yanukovich after this week's bloodshed, stood, applauded and sang the national anthem after it declared the president constitutionally unable to carry out his duties and set an early election for May 25.

"POLITICAL KNOCKOUT"

"This is a political knockout," opposition leader and retired world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko told reporters.

Moments later, opposition leader Tymoshenko waved to supporters from a car as she was driven out of the hospital in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where she has been treated for a bad back while serving a seven-year sentence since 2011.

In a television interview which the station said was also conducted in Kharkiv, Yanukovich said he would not resign or leave the country, and called decisions by parliament "illegal".

"The events witnessed by our country and the whole world are an example of a coup d'etat," he said, comparing it to the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in the 1930s. He said he had also come under fire. "My car was shot at. I am not afraid. I feel sorrow for my country," he told UBR television.

Interfax news agency said Yanukovich was refused exit from the country by border guards when he tried to fly out from the city of Donetsk.

At Yanukovich's abandoned secret estate near Kiev, people flocked to take photographs of his private zoo with ostriches and deer, replica ancient Greek ruins, and lavish waterways and follies.

Despite Yanukovich's defiance, the dismantling of his authority seemed all but complete, with his cabinet promising a transition to a new government, the police declaring themselves behind the protesters and his arch-rival Tymoshenko going free.

Setting herself immediately on a collision course with Moscow, Tymoshenko said she was sure her country would join the European Union in the near future. Her release was welcomed by Washington.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "illegal extremist groups are refusing to disarm and in fact are taking Kiev under their control with the connivance of opposition leaders".

"DON'T STOP YET"

As night fell, 30,000 opposition supporters on Kiev's Independence Square, scene of nearly three months of protests, were in buoyant mood. "People can taste freedom and take off their flak jackets," said Vasily, 40, a builder.

There was sadness too as coffins were displayed in front of the crowd and priests said prayers. People crossed themselves in front of makeshift shrines with candles and pictures of the dead. Two captured water cannon trucks were parked in the square like trophies of war.

In an emotional speech after she was carried on to a stage in a wheelchair, Tymoshenko told the protesters on the square, known as the Maidan: "You have no right to leave the Maidan ... Don't stop yet."

The Ukrainian cabinet said it was committed to a responsible transfer of power.

Ukrainian military and police leaders said they would not get involved in any internal conflict. The interior ministry responsible for the police said it served "exclusively the Ukrainian people and fully shares their strong desire for speedy change".

Yanukovich, who enraged much of the population by turning away from the European Union to cultivate closer relations with Russia three months ago, made sweeping concessions in a deal brokered by European diplomats on Friday after days of street battles that saw police snipers gun down protesters.

But the deal, which called for early elections by the end of the year, was not enough to satisfy pro-Europe demonstrators on Independence Square, who wanted Yanukovich out immediately in the wake of the bloodletting.

On Saturday, the speaker of parliament, a Yanukovich loyalist, resigned and parliament elected Oleksander Turchynov, a close ally of Tymoshenko, as his replacement.

"Today he left the capital," Klitschko said of Yanukovich at an emergency session of parliament. "Millions of Ukrainians see only one choice - early presidential and parliamentary elections."

TYMOSHENKO FREE

The release of Tymoshenko transforms Ukraine by giving the opposition a single leader and potential future president, although Klitschko and others also have claims.

The 53-year-old, known for her distinctive blonde braid, was jailed by a court under Yanukovich over a natural gas deal with Russia she arranged while serving as premier before he took office. The EU had long considered her a political prisoner, and her freedom was one of the main demands it had for closer ties with Ukraine during years of negotiations that ended when Yanukovich abruptly turned towards Moscow in November.

She had served as a leader of the "Orange Revolution" of mass demonstrations which overturned a fraudulent election victory for Yanukovich in 2004, but after a divisive term as prime minister she lost to him in an election in 2010.

Underscoring Ukraine's regional divisions, leaders of Russian-speaking eastern provinces loyal to Yanukovich voted to challenge anti-Yanukovich steps by the central parliament.

Eastern regional bosses meeting in Kharkiv - the city where Yanukovich had apparently sought refuge - adopted a resolution saying parliament's moves "in such circumstances cause doubts about their ... legitimacy and legality.

"Until the constitutional order and lawfulness are restored ... we have decided to take responsibility for safeguarding the constitutional order, legality, citizens' rights and their security on our territories."

Kharkiv Governor Mikhaylo Dobkin told the meeting: "We're not preparing to break up the country. We want to preserve it."

In Russia, Mikhail Margelov, head of the foreign policy committee of the upper house of parliament, said the Kharkiv meeting proved "that the Maidan and the opposition, let alone the militants, are not the majority of the Ukrainian people".

But the head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's lower house, Alexei Pushkov, seemed to acknowledge that Yanukovich's rule was finished. "He fled. Security fled. Staff fled," Pushkov said. "A sad end to the president." (Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Kiev, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Marcin Goettig in Warsaw; Writing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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Here's the CNN story about what happened and the Ukrainian president claiming this is a coup.

Ukraine's president calls efforts to push him from office a 'coup'



http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/22/world/europe/ukraine-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Freed from prison, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko returned Saturday to the battleground capital while the country's president said he left the city because of a "coup."

Tymoshenko's release was the latest in a day of dramatic, fast-paced developments that saw Parliament vote to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office and call for new elections.

"Today, Ukraine has finished with this terrible dictator, Mr. Yanukovych," Tymoshenko told a cheering crowd of thousands in Kiev's Independence Square, the scene of deadly demonstrations.

Just hours after her release from a prison hospital, Tymoshenko called for justice for protesters killed in demonstrations sparked by the President's decision to scrap a trade deal with the European Union in favor of one with Russia.

"You were able to change Ukraine, and you can do everything," she told the crowd. "Everyone has a right to take part in building a European, independent state."

But Yanukovych took to television airwaves, saying he had been forced to leave Kiev because of "vandalism, crime and a coup."

"I don't plan to leave the country. I don't plan to resign. I am the legitimate president," he said in an interview from Kharkiv, a pro-Russian stronghold near Ukraine's border with that nation.

"...What I am going to do next is to protect my country from the split, to stop the bloodshed. I don't know how to do it yet. I am in Kharkiv and I don't know what I am going to do next. "

The events of the day raise questions about just who is in control in Ukraine, with Parliament voting to oust Yanukovych and hold new elections on May 25.

The vote came just 24 hours after Yanukovych signed a peace deal with the opposition intended to end days of bloody protests.

At the presidential residence in a Kiev suburb, the president's living quarters were vacant, his guards gone.

Government buildings, protest gatherings and the central city were devoid of police and security forces, who had opened fire on protesters this week, killing dozens.

As a CNN crew drove to Yanukovych's residence, it passed checkpoints set up by protesters.
Ukraine tarnishes Putin's Olympic moment 'I am a Ukrainian'

When the crew arrived, the gatekeepers said they were not allowing the general public onto the grounds, but they let journalists enter.

The civil servants asked that the reporters treat his home as a crime scene and referred to it as the "people's residence."

Freeing Tymoshenko

In the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament, lawmakers passed a resolution to free Tymoshenko, a hero of the country's 2004 revolution that forced the questionable results of a presidential election won by Yanukovych to be thrown out.

Tymoshenko served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010, and was forced out of office after losing an election to
Yanukovych.

She was sentenced in 2011 to seven years in prison after being convicted of abuse of authority over a natural gas deal negotiated with Russia in 2009.

The case against her was widely considered to have been politically motivated, and the United States and other Western nations called her "a political prisoner."

In 2012, after she was allegedly beaten unconscious by guards, she went on a hunger strike to draw attention to "violence and lack of rights" in her country.

In Washington, White House press secretary Jay Carney said U.S. officials were closely monitoring developments.

"We have consistently advocated a de-escalation of violence, constitutional change, a coalition government, and early elections, and today's developments could move us closer to that goal," he said in a statement.

Key Yanukovych allies left office, and the presidential duties were handed off until a new cabinet is selected.

During the parliamentary session, resignations were announced for the speaker and another leading presidential ally.

Hours later, Parliament elected a new speaker, a rival to Yanukovych, and gave him the duty of coordinating the executive office until a new cabinet is in place.

Another opposition parliamentarian received the duties of acting interior minister.

The unrest began in November, when Yanukovych scrapped a European Union trade deal and turned toward Russia.

The country is ethnically split, with many ethnic Russians living in the East. The rest of the country comprises mostly ethnic Ukrainians.

Russia, which has offered to lend money to cash-strapped Ukraine in a deal worth billions of dollars and to lower its gas prices, has pressured Yanukovych to crack down on demonstrators.

Western leaders, who have offered Ukraine a long-term aid package requiring economic modernization, urged him to show restraint, open the government to the opposition and let the democratic process work out deep-seated political differences.

But the fight was also about corruption and control. The opposition called Yanukovych heavy-handed, with protesters saying they wouldn't leave Independence Square until he resigned.

Tensions boiled over Tuesday, when security forces charged into a Kiev crowd with stun grenades, nightsticks and armored personnel carriers. The violence escalated, leaving dozens -- protesters and police alike -- dead.

U.S. talks tough, but options limited in Ukraine

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Obama warns Russia against Ukraine intervention, says 'there will be costs'



http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Simferopol, Ukraine (CNN) -- Tension dramatically mounted in Ukraine's Crimea region Friday as its ambassador to the United Nations warned Russia against any further violation of its territorial borders, a warning that came as the United States urged Russia to pull back from the region or face possible consequences.

"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside Ukraine," U.S. President Barack Obama said in televised comments from the White House.

"...It would be a clear violation of Russia's commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty and borders of Ukraine and of international laws."

Obama said any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "deeply destabilizing, and he warned "the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine."

The remarks were the latest in a series of fast-moving developments that saw Ukrainian officials grappling with rising secessionist passions in the Russian-majority region, where the airspace has been closed and communications have been disrupted.

Ukraine accused Russian Black Sea forces of trying to seize two airports in Crimea but said Ukrainian security forces prevented them from taking control.

Ukraine Interior Minister Arsen Avakov earlier characterized the presence at the airport of unidentified armed men, who wore uniforms without insignia, as an "armed invasion."

The crisis echoed throughout the world, with the U.N. Security Council president holding a private meeting about the crisis enveloping Ukraine and world leaders calling armed groups not to attempt to challenge Ukrainian sovereignty.

'This group is making a serious mistake'

At a press conference outside the U.N. Security Council, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.N., Yuriy Sergeyev said the country was prepared to defend itself and urged the U.N.'s moral and political support for the Kiev government, particularly in Crimea.

Since last week's ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine has faced a deepening schism, with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east preferring a Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow.

Nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. And Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority.

"We still have a chance to stop the negative developments and separatism," Sergeyev said.

Sergeyev accused Russia of violating its military agreement by blocking Ukrainian security forces, including its border guards and police, in the region.

"This group is making a serious mistake challenging our territorial integrity," he said.

But Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaliy Churkin, compared the reports of Russian troops taking charge of positions on the ground to rumors that "are always not true."

"We are acting within the framework of our agreement," he said.

Even so, U.S. military commanders and intelligence agencies were scrambling Friday to determine what was needed to get a better picture of Russian movements.

That included an assessment of intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance needs, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

The U.S. State Department warned Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine, particularly the Crimea region, "due to the potential for instability following the departure of former President Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government."

Meanwhile, Obama is considering not attending the G8 Summit in Sochi, Russia, in June, if Russian troops remain in the Ukraine, a senior administration official familiar with the discussions told CNN.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said maneuvers of armored vehicles from the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea were needed for security and were in line with bilateral agreements.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday morning about the airport and military activities, and Lavrov told Kerry that the Russians "are not engaging in any violation of the sovereignty" of Ukraine. Russia has a military base agreement with the country.

Lavrov told him the military exercises were prescheduled and unrelated to the events in Ukraine, Kerry said.
Tensions rise over Crimean peninsula Ukraine faces threats of secession Gunmen seize Crimean parliament

"I nevertheless made it clear that that could be misinterpreted at the moment,'' Kerry said, "and there are enough tensions that it is important for everybody to be extremely careful not to inflame the situation and send the wrong messages."

Yanukovych's news conference was under way in Russia, Kerry said, as he spoke with Lavrov.
Kerry said Lavrov had reaffirmed to him a commitment that Russia would "respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

"We would overwhelmingly stress today that we urge all parties -- all parties; that includes the new interim technical government, rightists, oppositionists and others, anybody in the street who is armed -- we urge all parties to avoid any steps that could be misinterpreted or lead to miscalculation or do anything other than to work to bring that peace and stability and peaceful transition within the governing process within Ukraine," Kerry said.
Russian response

In a telephone call with European leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of avoiding a further escalation of violence in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a prepared statement Friday.

Putin also called for a normalization of the situation, speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, according to the Kremlin.

Crimea was handed to Ukraine by the Soviet Union in 1954. Just over half its population is ethnic Russian, while about a quarter are Ukrainians and a little more than 10% are Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim group oppressed under former Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers introduced two bills Friday to simplify annexing new territories into the Russian Federation and simplify access to Russian citizenship for Ukrainians, the state news agency Itar Tass said.

One bill also stipulates that the accession of a part of a foreign state to Russia should be taken through a referendum, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Making his first public appearance since his ouster Saturday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said the newly appointed interim government was not legitimate and did not represent the majority of Ukraine's 45 million citizens.

"I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who, with fear and with terror, are attempting to replace the power," Yanukovych said in Russian, not Ukrainian.

"Nobody has overthrown me. I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to a direct threat to my life and my nearest
and dearest."

In his hourlong news conference, Yanukovych accused the interim authorities in Ukraine of propagating violence.

He spoke against a backdrop of Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flags before reporters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don about 700 miles south of Moscow.

"I never gave any orders to shoot," he said, adding that he sought peace and that the security forces took up arms only when their lives were at risk.

Yanukovych is wanted in Ukraine on charges connected to the deaths of demonstrators, who were protesting his decision to scrap a European Union trade deal in favor of one with Russia.

Back in Kiev, Andrii Parubii, chief of national security and defense, said Ukrainian military and police forces had stopped Russian military forces from seizing two airports in the Crimean region.

The Russian military is on the outside of both airports, Parubii said in a televised news conference from the Ukrainian parliament.

Weapons were not used during the operation, according to Avakov, the interior minister.

Russian armored vehicles were moving toward Simferopol, the regional capital, on Friday, the Ukrainian news outlet TSN reported.

Men in military uniforms had been seen patrolling the airport in Simferopol, as well as a military and civilian airbase in nearby Sevastopol since early Friday.

Avakov said the armed men at the Sevastopol air base were troops from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, stationed in the
port city. They were in camouflage uniforms without military insignia, he said.

The presence of the armed men has not affected the Simferopol airport, civil aviation authorities said.

"We are checking to make sure that no radicals come to Crimea from Kiev, from the Ukraine," said one man outside the airport, who didn't give his name. "We don't want radicals, we don't want fascism, we don't want problems."

Other men outside the airport, dressed in black rather than military fatigues, said they belonged to the pro-Russia
Unity Party and had come on the orders of the new Crimean administration -- voted in Thursday after armed men seized regional government buildings.

Concerned about the latest developments, Ukraine's parliament passed a resolution Friday that demanded Russia halt any activity that can be interpreted as an attack on its sovereignty.

Moscow alarmed some observers by announcing the surprise military exercises Wednesday in its western and central areas, near the Ukraine border.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's largest telecom firm was unable to provide data and voice connectivity between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine because unknown people had seized telecommunications nodes and destroyed cables, it said Friday. There is almost no phone connectivity or Internet service across Crimea, said Ukrtelecom, which is the only landline provider.

[GM Franchise]

Russian upper house approves use of force in Ukraine



http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Simferopol, Ukraine (CNN) -- [Breaking News Update, 10:02 a.m. ET]

(CNN) -- Russia's upper house of parliament voted Saturday to approve the use of military force in Ukraine. The vote was unanimous.

[Original Story, published 9:23 a.m. ET]

(CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the upper house of parliament for approval to send Russian troops into Ukraine's Crimea region to normalize the political situation there, the Kremlin said Saturday.

Due to the "extraordinary situation in Ukraine," Putin said, there are threats to the lives of Russian citizens and Russian military personnel based in the southern Crimean region.

It comes on the same day that the new pro-Russian leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, asked Putin for help in maintaining peace in the Black Sea peninsula -- where Russia has a major naval base at Sevastopol.

International concerns are mounting that Moscow may intervene militarily in the crisis, despite warnings from the United States and other Western powers that it should respect Ukrainian sovereignty.

In response to Putin's move, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "Russian military intervention in Ukraine is clearly against international law and principles of European security."

The newly appointed interim government in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is seeking to prevent tensions in Crimea, which has a majority-Russian population, escalating into a full-blown bid for separation.

Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting separatist tensions in the autonomous region.

Amid the uncertainty, about 300 gunmen wearing Russian Special Forces uniforms attempted to take over the Sevastopol unit of the Ukrainian Coast Guard, a senior official with the Ukrainian Border Service said Saturday.

The gunmen were positioned outside the Ukrainian Coast Guard building, with local residents standing between the two sides, said Col. Sergii Astakhov, assistant to the chief of the Ukrainian Border Service.

The residents are reportedly trying to negotiate and asking the gunmen not to attack, Astakhov said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Coast Guard has moved its ships away from the immediate coastline, and they are being approached by three motorboats and one cruiser from the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Astakhov said.

'Limited' Russian force

A senior Russian lawmaker said Saturday that Russia could send a "limited" armed force to Crimea to ensure the security of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol and Russian citizens living there.

The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, cited the need to ensure the safety of the Black Sea Fleet and Russian citizens living in Crimea, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

But she acknowledged that "this decision surely rests with our President, the supreme commander-in-chief."

Aksyonov, who was installed as the region's premier after armed men took over the Crimean parliament building Thursday, said security forces "are unable to efficiently control the situation in the republic," in comments broadcast on Russian state channel Russia 24.

Consequently, he said, he was taking charge of security and asking Russia for assistance. His actions are also a response to Kiev's actions in appointing a new police chief in Crimea without consulting the parliament, he said.

Aksyonov said Saturday that the date for a referendum on greater Crimean autonomy would be moved up from May 25 to March 30.

A Kremlin spokesman had said Russia "will not disregard" Aksyonov's request for help "in maintaining peace and accord in Crimea."

The crisis in Crimea has echoed round the world, with the U.N. Security Council president holding a private meeting about the crisis enveloping Ukraine on Friday and world leaders calling on armed groups not to attempt to challenge Ukrainian sovereignty.

Yatsenyuk: Russian actions are provocation

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, speaking at a Cabinet meeting Saturday, said the government believes the "disproportionate Russian presence in Crimea is nothing but a provocation."

But, he said, Russia's attempts to provoke the Ukrainian government to respond with force have failed.

"Ukraine will not be provoked, we will not use force, we demand that the government of the Russian Federation immediately withdraw its troops and return to their home bases," he said.

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, insisted Friday that Ukraine would defend its sovereignty and that "any attempts of intrusion or annexation will have very serious consequences."

Russia fired back Saturday, amid the claim and counter-claim over the rapidly moving events in Crimea.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was "extremely concerned" by the situation and that in the early hours, unidentified gunmen "directed from Kiev" had attempted to take control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Crimea. Self-defense groups averted the attempt, it said.

The ministry accused political figures in Kiev of trying to destabilize the peninsula, which has historic links to Russia. And it called for restraint, saying "it is irresponsible to continue whipping the already tense situation in the Crimea."

Unrest spread Saturday to the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, which lies close to the border with Russia and has close economic ties there.

Scuffles between pro-Russian and pro-EU groups broke out, resulting in injuries on both sides, a local journalist who witnessed the incident told CNN.

Pro-Russian demonstrators have been holding a demonstration in front of the Kharkiv regional government building while a pro-EU group is inside, journalist Daira Yurovskaya said. Pro-Russian protesters also dismantled barricades around the building, attempting to get inside.

Airspace closed

Ukraine on Friday accused Russian Black Sea forces of trying to seize two airports in Crimea but said Ukrainian security forces prevented them from taking control.

Mysterious groups of armed men, dressed in uniforms without identifying insignia, patrolled the airports in the regional capital, Simferopol, and the nearby port city of Sevastopol, where Russia has a major military base for its Black Sea fleet.

The armed men remained at the airports Saturday and Yevgey Plaksin, director of the airport in the regional capital, Simferopol, said Crimean airspace would remain closed until the evening local time.

Unidentified, balaclava-clad armed men also took up position outside the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol on Saturday, as a small pro-Russian protest was held, and controlled who could enter. A roadblock was also reported on the route into the city.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaliy Churkin, on Friday compared the reports of Russian troops taking charge of positions on the ground to rumors that "are always not true."
 





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Masked gunmen occupy Crimea
   





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Ukranian airspace shut down amid crisis

"We are acting within the framework of our agreement," he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that maneuvers of armored vehicles from the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea were needed for security and were in line with bilateral agreements.

At the same time, Russia has been conducting a huge military exercise near its border with Ukraine. The snap drills were announced by Moscow on Wednesday.

Obama: Warning to Russia

The United States urged Russia on Friday to pull back from the Crimea region or face possible consequences.

"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside Ukraine," U.S. President Barack Obama said in televised comments from the White House.

"...It would be a clear violation of Russia's commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty and borders of Ukraine and of international laws."

Obama said any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "deeply destabilizing, and he warned "the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine."

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and called for a de-escalation of the situation in Crimea, Hague said Saturday via Twitter. Hague also asked that Russia respect Ukraine's sovereignty and independence.

Ukrainian leaders and commentators have drawn parallels between what's happening in Crimea and the situation in Georgia in 2008. Then, cross-border tensions with Russia exploded into a five-day conflict which saw Russian tanks and troops pour into the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as Georgian cities. Russia and Georgia each blamed the other for starting the conflict.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN he had warned in 2008 that Ukraine would be next. "Putin is following his blueprint all the way through," he said.

Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia's western border, has been plunged into chaos since the ouster a week ago of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, following bloody street protests.

Yanukovych resurfaced Friday in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, where he said he had not been overthrown and vowed to fight on for Ukraine's future.

Read Obama's full statement

Financial woes

Besides the dramatic events unfolding in Crimea, Ukraine's new government also faces the challenge of getting the country's cash-strapped economy back on track.

A promised $15 billion loan from Russia, agreed in November by Yanukovych after he dropped the EU deal, is now on hold. Russia also promised to slash natural gas prices.

However, Russian energy giant Gazprom said Saturday that Ukraine is $1.55 billion in arrears on payments for natural gas deliveries, which may force the firm to cancel the discount agreed to last year, Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Russia has issued a $3 billion line of credit to Ukraine to help it cover its gas debts -- but payments must be respected.

Ukrainian authorities have said they will need $35 billion in foreign funds by the end of 2015.

[J-Reb]

This is not good.

[Triple B]

I read reports there are demonstrations in Russia FOR the occupation of Ukraine.

I swear... if this ends up being WW3, Alex Jones is going to make a FORTUNE.

[Rob]

Am I a bad person for not giving a fuck?

Do you still feel this way now that WW3 could potentially be on the horizon and your own country is about to get involved?

[Mike Powers]

You want me to be honest? I don't really follow the news. I tend to live in my own little bubble. So, I have no clue what's going on. And, as much as I'll look foolish for saying it....I really don't care.

[GM Franchise]

I read reports there are demonstrations in Russia FOR the occupation of Ukraine.

I swear... if this ends up being WW3, Alex Jones is going to make a FORTUNE.

Ukraine has mobilized its armed forces and is ready to take on the Russians head on from the looks of it.

[Rob]

I think you might regret saying that soon Mike, it looks to me as though shit is about to go down. I have the feeling after everything that's gone down in Ukraine with the protesting and the way their interim Prime Minister is speaking, the only way this will resolve is through conflict. It really depends on the West I suppose.

[Mike Powers]

Believe me, I'm not exactly 'proud' of the fact that I live inside my own personal bubble. I was just giving you an honest answer to your question.

There is a stereotype that Americans are self absorbed, with little care of what goes on around them, domestically as well as internationally. Unfortunately that seems to fit me to a T.