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On March 1 Russian President Vladimir Putin secured permission from his parliament to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told U.S. President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene. While Russian military continues bloodlessly seizing Ukrainian military units and other objects in Crimea, Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert. Thus, the Defence Ministry was ordered to stage a call-up of reserves.
The Western response to Russia's aggression has been largely symbolic. Thus, on March 2 Barack Obama and others suspended preparations for a G8 summit in Sochi. Some countries also recalled their ambassadors from Russia. Some countries introduced sanctions against some Ukrainian officials and businessmen close to Viktor Yanukovich.
Now everyone is waiting on whether Russia makes a military move in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow demonstrators have marched and raised Russian flags over public buildings in several cities in the last few days.
As of March 10 Russia has introduced around 20 thousands soldiers to the territory of Crimea, and their number keeps growing. Also, there are about 220 thousand Russian soldiers on the Russian side of the south-eastern borders of Ukraine and Crimea.
08:55. Police detained Arsen Klinchaev - Lugansk regional council deputy and one of the organizers of seizure of Lugansk Regional State Administration's building by pro-Russian activists, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov pposted on Facebook.
09:15. Seven trucks with Russian soldiers have blocked the location of a separate radar group of the Ukrainian Air Forces, stationed at Cape Tarkhankut.
09:15. Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko told LB.ua about the work of Anti-Corruption Bureau, headed by Tatiana Chornovol and lustration committee headed by Yegor Sobolev. There won't be total lustration of judges, because otherwise the system will stop, he said.
09:29. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) rejected the initiative of the Crimean authorities, suggested that the organization would send observers to the upcoming referendum on Crimea's separation from Ukraine. Only central government in Kyiv may invite observers there.
09:53. Police and Security Service on March 9 detained employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation in Donetsk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted on Facebook. The man was detained 'under compromising circumstances'.
10:14. Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov has convened an extraordinary meeting of MPs of the Crimean parliament. Journalists are not allowed there.
10:17. A group of people in camouflage (mostly Euromaidan self-defence fighters) gathered at the entrance to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and demand that the Ukrainian authorities take decisions on the status of Crimea and Euromaidan self-defence (pictures).
10:27. World Bank, which is based in Washington, intends to provide assistance to Ukraine of up to $3 billion by the end of this year, the bank said in a statement.
10:32. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine will do everything to resolve the conflict with Russia peacefully.
10:37. Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said that only provocateurs call to take military action in Crimea.
10:40. Fans of Moscow FC 'Locomotive' expressed support for Ukraine. On Monday, during the match of 20th round of the Russian Premier League, 'Loco' - 'Wings of the Soviets' fans stood up with banner saying 'Glory to Ukraine' (picture).
10:51. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said the National Security and Defense Council decided to establish a National Guard, using the existing Interior Ministry forces as a base. The goal would be 'to defend citizens from criminals and from internal or external aggression'. A partial mobilization of volunteers drawn from those with previous military experience would begin, he said.
11:04. Ukrainian law enforcers detained several employees of Russian special services in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema said on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada.
11:05. Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko said that Ukraine needs complete re-election of the Supreme Council of Justice.
11:16. Acting Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh said that there are about 220 thousand Russian soldiers on the Russian side of the south-eastern borders of Ukraine and Crimea.
11:19. Former governor of Kharkiv region Mikhail Dobkin arrived to the Prosecutor General's Office, where he was detained, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentin Nalyvaychenko said at today's session of the Verkhovna Rada.
11:23. Mayor of Kharkiv Gennady Kernes has been summoned to the General Prosecutor's Office for questioning.
11:25. Ukraine's ousted leader, Viktor Yanukovich, reiterated on Tuesday that he was the country's legitimate president and commander-in-chief, saying he was sure the armed forces would refuse to obey any 'criminal orders', reports Reuters.
In a statement in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Yanukovich remained unswayed in his argument that "extremists" had taken power in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. He told journalists that a presidential election set for May 25 would be illegal.
11:38. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry refused to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin until Russia de-escalate the conflict in Crimea, spokeswoman for the State Department Jen Psaki said.
11:38. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that within 5 days the Russian leadership hasn't responded to his request to start negotiations and Moscow continues to ignore the Ukrainian authorities.
11:39. Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych intends to ask the U.S. Congress regarding the illegality of allocation of financial of $1 billion to Ukraine, he said at a press-conference in Rostov-on-Don.
11:51. The Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a declaration of independence of the autonomous republic and Sevastopol. It depends on the results of the Referendum, whether Crimea becomes an independent state.
12:00. Ukraine will receive the first tranche of bailout from the European Union when the authorities agree on a new loan program with the International Monetary Fund, Vice-President of the European Commission Olli Rehn stated.
12:05. Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaychenko promised on Tuesday to present evidence that employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's Defence Ministry are involved into the organizing provocations in Ukraine.
12:12. Ukraine's Parliament adopted an appeal to the guarantor states of security of Ukraine, in which, inter alia, requested for military assistance. The Ukrainian authorities called them to do everything possible for the territorial integrity of the country.
12:13. Special Commission began recertification of Kyiv's 'Berkut' riot police. Those fighters who will pass it, will enter the new units of the Interior Ministry.
12:23. Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk promises to reduce the budget deficit by half.
12:30. Ex-deputy head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Portnov is in Moscow and advises the Federation's Council on the situation in Crimea. Also, he received Russian citizenship, 'Batkivschyna' MP Mykola Knyazhytsky wrote on Facebook.
12:33. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has threatened with dissolution of the Crimean parliament if Crimean MPs won't cancel a referendum on the status of Crimea until March 12.
12:55. The Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a resolution 'On guarantees of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people recover and its integration into the Crimean community', according to which the approval of the new Constitution of the Republic of Crimea will provide a number of guarantees to Tatars.
12:57. Dealers began exporting unsold cars from the Crimea, fearing riots or looting.
12:58. 'Official' fans of Moscow FC 'Locomotive' denied their support to Ukraine.
12:58. Number of victims of the protests in Ukraine as of March 11 has increased to 102 people, the press service of the Ministry of Health reported. 179 people remain in hospitals.
13:45. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine declared that among Russians who were denied entrance to Ukraine there were Russian extremists: mostly former soldiers and a few ex-convicts, says a statement on the website of the State Border Service.
13:58. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is investigating the involvement of the Russian secret service agent detained in plotting a terrorist attack in public places in Donetsk and Lugansk, SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said.
14:09. The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea at the extraordinary plenary meeting decided to ban the activities of the 'Svoboda' party and the 'Praviy sector' ('Right sector') civil movement as well as a number of other 'pro-fascist parties and public organizations' in Crimea, the press service of the Crimean parliament reported.
14:10. Former President Viktor Yanukovich will come to Crimea in the nearest future 'to carry out its subversive activities', MP Gennady Moskal said today on the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada.
14:25. The National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio requires providers to stop rebroadcasting of the Russian TV-channels 'Vesti', 'Russia 24', ORT (Channel global network), 'RTR Planeta', 'NTV Mir' till 7:00 pm, March 11, 'until the situation in Ukraine is resolved', stated the press service of the Council.
14:32. Ukrainian MP, former head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Mustafa Dzhemilev has been invited to the Kremlin. He believes that the Russian authorities are going to discuss the situation in Crimea with him and will try to win the sympathy of the Crimean Tatars.
14:45. On Tuesday, March 11 masked men beat a prosecutor in Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, reported the press service of the Prosecutor's Office in Kyiv.
15:02. President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko promised to soon unveil new cases of corruption among officials and urged officials to draw conclusions from the events in Ukraine and prevent corrupt practices.
15:12. About 250 valuables from Viktor Yanukovich's private residence 'Mezhigitya' have been transferred to the National Art Museum of Ukraine, located on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv.
15:22. Former adviser to Viktor Yanukovich, the Party of Regions MP Anna Herman advised the former president to go to Crimea.
15:24. There were around 19 thousand Russian soldiers in Crimea as of March 10, reports the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine.
15:37. The mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions for Human Rights Observation on snap presidential elections will begin its work in Ukraine on March 19. It'll send 1000 observers to Ukraine.
15:40. The Crimean parliament declared independence because it is not sure whether a referendum will be held March 16 and what its results will be, leader of the 'UDAR' party Vitali Klitschko said.
15:53. Participants of the seizure of Luhansk Regional State Administration building were offered $150, reported the Security Service of Ukraine.
15:59. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed another note to the Russian Embassy with a demand that Russian landing ships of the Baltic Fleet promptly leave the territory of Ukraine, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Perebyynis said.
16:04. In Simferopol (Crimea) men in camouflage uniforms seized a building of the Crimean management of rail transportation.
16:30. Congress of the Party of Regions, which was scheduled for March 15, was moved to a date after the referendum in Crimea (March 16).
16:38. Europe is ready to open its market for Ukrainian business. The European Commission on Tuesday lowered customs duties for Ukrainian products.
16:38. Ukraine asks the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission of unarmed observers to continue its work until March 16. This time Kyiv asks them to work in the south and east of the country.
16:53. Leader of Majlis Refat Chubarov said that the Crimean Tatars will boycott the referendum in Crimea despite the guarantees provided by the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea.
16:57. Mayor of Kharkiv Gennady Kernes called a political revenge law enforcement actions against him and a former chairman of Kharkiv region Mikhail Dobkin, who has been already detained by the Prosecutor General.
17:11. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation recognized a declaration of independence of Crimea adopted earlier on Tuesday as completely legitimate.
17:17. The Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko believes that the Ukrainian government needs reformatting from ideological into technical.
17:26. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk admits that the European Union sanctions against Russia in connection with its activities in Crimea may be introduced on the following week (March 17).
17:50. Participants of the General Assembly, the International Fund for Cooperation and Partnership of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, which met in Istanbul yesterday, condemned the military action in Crimea.
17:54. Solutions of the Crimean parliament to hold a referendum and adoption of the Declaration on independence are illegitimate, the Party of Regions MP Yuri Miroshnichenko told reporters.
18:04. Mayor of the Crimean city Bilohirsk (located in 42 km from Simferopol, East Crimea) Albert Kangiev refused to prepare for a referendum scheduled by the Crimean authorities for March 16.
18:14. The presidential elections in Ukraine, scheduled for March 16, may be moved to a later date of cancelled, reported LB.ua´s sources in the 'Batkivschyna' opposition faction.
18:34. Doctors of Charite Hospital in Berlin performed the first surgery to restore the state of health of the ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
18:53. Kyrgyz Republic shares the concern of the international community in connection with the escalation of tension in Ukraine and supports the early settlement of the situation in Ukraine by peaceful means, through negotiations and dialogue, says a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.
19:10. In Lviv 37 employees of 'Berkut' riot police resigned after its dissolution and recertification.
19:23. Russian soldiers deployed a field hospital in Jankoi (Crimea).
19:30. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk predicts signing of the political part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union before the end of this month, but after a meeting of the Council of the European Union, scheduled March 21.
19:41. The General Prosecutor of Ukraine considers as a provocation official statement of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich made today in Rostov-on-Don, aimed at supporting separatist sentiments and inciting ethnic hatred in the territory of Crimea and in South-Eastern regions of Ukraine, reported the press service of the GPU.
19:55. Automaidan activists, who were abducted in Crimea on March 9, Shura Ryazantseva, Katerina Butko, journalist Elena Maksymenko, photographer Olesya Kromplyasa and Eugenia Rakhno have been released. l
20:11. The Regions Party MP offered the Parliament to move a date of the presidential elections from May 25 to December 7.
20:14. Kyiv Pechersk court put ex-governor of Kharkiv region Mikhail Dobkin under house arrest.
20:33. Russia's Foreign Ministry stated considers illegal the U.S. financial assistance to Ukraine, saying that Viktor Yanukovich was illegally overthrown.
20:51. The General Prosecutor's Office appealed the unlawful decisions taken by the Supreme Council of Crimea and Sevastopol city council.
21:05. Russian military personnel armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on Tuesday night demanded from Ukrainian soldiers to let them to ammunition depots in Inkerman (Sevastopol).
21:40. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed concern about the requirements for cable operators to stop broadcasting Russian television channels in Ukraine.
22:13. Presidential elections In Ukraine must be held on May 25, otherwise they threaten to destabilize deepening economic and political crisis in the country, leader of the 'UDAR' party Vitali Klitschko said.
22:30. Kharkiv region ex-governor Mikhail Dobkin considers illegal putting him under house arrest and intends to appeal. It has nothing to do with separatism, said the ex-governor.
22:45. In its current form, a referendum on Crimea, scheduled for March 16, contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine and should be considered illegal, stated Minister of Foreign Affairs and OSCE Chairman Didier Burkhalter, the press office of the OSCE reported.
23:00. An electrical installation at the airfield Belbek, guarded by Russian troops, was set on fire.
23:26. 85 Russian cultural figures and artists put their signatures under a letter 'In support of the position of president over Ukraine and Crimea', stated the press service of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
23:57. After the annexation of Crimea by Russia it may become the second Abkhazia or Nagorno-Karabakh, or an unrecognized republic with a semi-criminal control, Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov said.