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Russia has asked the United States to use its influence to prevent bloodshed in eastern Ukraine, as Kiev threatened a "large-scale anti-terrorist operation" to remove separatists from government buildings. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the appeal during a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama, in which the Kremlin said the two leaders discussed the escalating unrest. The Kremlin said the Russian president also rejected Western claims that Moscow is behind attacks on government buildings, saying they were "based on unfounded information." Earlier Mr Putin's spokesman said Russia had received several appeals for help from separatists who are seeking to...

Arsen Avakov said units of all the law enforcement departments are involved in the operation Ukranian police officers© EPA/VOLODYMYR PETROV DONETSK, April 13, 10:02 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s acting interim Interior minister Arsen Avakov has announced the start of an anti-riot operation in the eastern city of Slavyansk, which is located in the Donetsk region where protesters demanding federalization of the country occupied the local departments of the police and the Ukrainian Security Service Saturday. Avakov said on his page in Facebook the operation was steered by the Security Service and “units of all the law enforcement departments are involved in it.”...

Sunday, April 13 09:58 GMT: A video, showing anti-Maidan protesters in Slavyansk who have erected barricades in front of the regional police department, has been published online by an eyewitness. 09:54 GMT: A video showing armored infantry vehicles in the Donetsk region city of Slavyansk has been published online by Delovoy Slavyansk newspaper. The video shows at least a dozen vehicles with military personnel apparently preparing for the Kiev-ordered crackdown. 09:25 GMT: One Ukrainian state security officer was killed and five others were wounded on the side of government forces in a security operation against anti-Maidan protesters in Slavyansk, Ukraine’s...

Anti-Maidan activists have detained a foreign national in Kharkov’s Beketova Street and posted the video footage on the web. The same video features a group of aggressive people using strong language while interrogating an unidentified person wearing the uniform of the Sokol (Falcon) police task force. The unknown man, pinned to the ground, speaks English and says he is a US citizen. According to the activists, this proves the earlier reports that US mercenaries have indeed arrived to take part in a military operation in the southeast of Ukraine and that mercenaries have indeed changed into the uniforms of one...

Kiev (CNN) -- Ukrainian acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Wednesday that the separatist protests in Ukraine's eastern region would be resolved within 48 hours -- either through negotiations or the use of force. At the same time, Russia insisted that the presence of its troops just over the border was no reason to worry. The United States and others have accused Russia of fomenting the separatist unrest as a pretext for military intervention. Using classified and commercial satellite imagery, the United States estimates there are up to 40,000 Russian troops on the border with eastern Ukraine. NATO has also...

March 13 deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea approved the 33-year-old Sexy Natalia Poklonskaya as prosecutor of Crimea Prior to his appointment Poklonskaya served as chief prosecutor of a department of the Main Department of the Attorney General in Simferopol. Immediately after the appointment of Ms. Poklonskaya gave a press conference broadcast STRC “Crimea”, where, in particular, called the Kiev authorities “devils from the ashes.” Geprokuratura Ukraine has accused his former employee of complicity in actions aimed at the seizure of state power, and started her criminal case. Also add that the prosecutor of the Crimea – a passionate...

Russia’s biggest billionaire has bought shares in big Chinese internet retailer Alibaba, after selling his stakes in US tech giants Apple and Facebook. The deal comes as the West imposes sanctions on Russia, that could spread from politics to business. Usmanov, 60, a founder of Russia’s iron ore Metalloinvest holding company, has an estimated fortune of $18.6 billion as of March 2014 and is increasing his bet on China, while selling American assets. “Chinese companies account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the portfolio of our foreign internet investments,” Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov’s asset-management company USM Advisors...

Russia and Crimea have signed treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian Federation following President Putin’s address to the Parliament. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin requests parliament to ratify the agreement that would see both Crimea and the city of Sevastopol joining Russia. “I ask you to consider the adoption of two new subjects of the Federation: Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol,” Putin told Parliamentarians. Crimea was represented by Prime Minister Sergey Aksenov and Sevastopol mayor Aleksey Chaly, who signed the treaty. The two were accompanied by Crimean top official Vladimir Konstantinov. “Since the adoption...

President Vladimir Putin has signed an order that Russia recognizes Crimea as a sovereign and independent state. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea held a referendum on Sunday with over 96% voting for integration into Russia. “According to the will of the peoples of the Crimea on the all-Crimean referendum held on March 16, 2014, [I order] to recognize the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, as a sovereign and independent state,” the document reads. The order comes into force immediately. Crimea was declared an independent sovereign state, the Republic of Crimea, on Monday,...

Far-right Orthodox groups in Bulgaria have been calling on volunteers to fight in Ukraine for Russian forces. World Bulletin / News Desk Far-right Bulgarians have been using social media websites to call their people to go to Crimea to 'defend' Bulgarians living there from 'violence and oppression.' A group calling themselves the 'Orthodox Dawn', along with the Bulgarian Nationalist Party (BNP), have been making the call over websites like Facebook and Twitter. BNP leader Simeon Kostadinov said that there was no central governing body in Ukraine at the moment, and that the enforcement of law and order had been left...

According to the President Milos Zeman what would solve the economic crisis in the Crimea was the federalization of Ukraine and strengthening the autonomy of the peninsula. The head of state on Thursday during a visit to Olomouc Region also said that everything would be much easier if there was not a precedent of Kosovo. "We believe that the solution would be generally the federalization of Ukraine, and in this federalization strengthen the autonomy of Crimea, which already exists because of Crimea has its own parliament and its own government. This crisis would have been far less severe if there...

"It is extremely unfortunate that this wiretapping was conducted. It’s not an accident that this conversation was posted (on the Internet) today," Paet said. Earlier, he said that the conversation with Ashton took place last week, immediately after the head of the MFA’s return from Ukraine to Estonia. "My conversation with Ashton took place last week directly after my visit to Ukraine. At that time, I was in Estonia already," he said. The diplomat refrained from more detailed comments until he "sees the recording". Paet says he used the ministry’s mobile phone for talks and has no idea how information...

In one photograph captioned 'sweetest guys' a woman stands alongside a soldier armed with a gun In another a mother smiles intently for the camera with her two children while posing next to an armed guard The pictures have appeared on the photo sharing network Instagram Ukraine has put its military on high alert and appealed for international help By TARA BRADY PUBLISHED: 03:26 GMT, 3 March 2014 | UPDATED: 17:15 GMT, 3 March 2014 439 shares 191View comments People in Crimea have been captured taking selfies with Russian masked gunmen as Ukraine is on the brink of war. In...

Yanukovych written request to use the Russian armed forces to protect the population of Ukraine , told the UN Security Council , Vitaly Churkin, Russia's permanent representative . "Today, I have been authorized to report as follows . President of Russia received following an appeal by President Viktor Yanukovych . I quote . Statement by the President of Ukraine. As the legitimately elected president of Ukraine declare that events on the Maidan, illegal seizure of power in Kiev led to the fact that Ukraine was on the verge civil War. The country there is chaos and anarchy . Life and...

By The Voice of Russia | Russian-Israeli journalist and politician Avigdor Eskin sharing in an interview with Voice of Russia 's point of view on issues of European democracy and its transformations in Ukraine. Voice of Russia : How protests in Ukraine, which in turn increased the influence of nationalist political parties and movements, they come into the system of European values ​​? Avigdor Eskin : The events in Ukraine highlighted the weakness of modern democracy. The technical aspect , direct vote, is idolized . The " sacredness " of the elections was broken in Ukraine. Recognizing the new government...

MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned as “unacceptable threats” comments made by the US Secretary of State John Kerry over possible Russian military action in Ukraine. The Russian parliament granted a request from President Vladimir Putin to authorize deployment of military forces in Ukraine on Saturday. In a series of public remarks over the weekend, Kerry called the move a "brazen act of aggression" and threatened Moscow with devastating economic and political consequences. “We consider there are unacceptable threats against Russia in the series of public statements by Secretary of State John Kerry...

Media reports about an alleged Russian ultimatum made to the Ukrainian armed forces in Crimea are “total nonsense,” a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said. He said that no ultimatum had been made to the Ukrainian forces, Interfax reports. “We have become accustomed to the daily accusations by the Ukrainian media of carrying out some sort of military actions against our Ukrainian colleagues," Russian Black Sea Fleet representative said, adding that “those who want to pit us against each other in the Crimea won’t succeed.” “There’s nothing new about such disinformation. It’s clear who is behind this. Those ‘puppeteers’...

The self-defense forces guarding the borders of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea have prevented a large amount of firearms and explosives from being smuggled into the republic by Kiev radicals. The Cossacks and Berkut troops at the road checkpoint in the Crimean peninsula have confiscated explosives equivalent to 400 kilograms of TNT as well as grenades, rifles and guns, Russia-1 TV channel reports. The blasting agent was transported in a single batch by a truck, with the self-defense forces currently investigating the origins and the purpose of the load. The driver and the passenger of the truck were Maidan...

<p>The 204th fight-jet airbase of the Ukrainian Air Force, which has 49 aircraft in service, has sided with the government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a local government representative told Interfax on Monday. "Today the command of the 204th base in Belbek has announced it is taking the side of the Crimean people," he said, adding that the base is more than 800 strong. "The Belbek airfield has 45 Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters and four L-39 trainer aircraft. Of them, only four fighters and one trainer are in good condition," the official said. Thus, "the total number of the Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, who have sided with the Crimean people, has approached 6,000," the source said.</p>

<p>The Night Wolves formed during Perestroika in1980s Russia as a counter-Soviet group idolising rock music and motorbikes.</p> <p>Alexander Zaldostanov (C), nicknamed "the Surgeon", leader of a group of Russian bikers called the Night Wolves, attends a rally of pro-Russian activists waving the Russian flag, in front of the local parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea By Harry Alsop10:58AM GMT 02 Mar 201415 Comments The Night Wolves are Russia’s largest motorbike club, with over 5,000 members. Fiercely patriotic, they believe that “wherever the Night Wolves are, that should be considered Russia”. On Saturday, the Night Wolves organised a mass ride from the northeast of Ukraine through the Russian speaking eastern regions to the Crimea. They wanted to hand out supplies to pro-Russian militia forces there. A member of the club's local chapter said: “We don’t want what happened in Kiev to happen here. Nazis and bandits have seized power there. And if we have to fight, we’ll fight with everything we can get our hands on.”</p>