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Secretary of State John Kerry warned the U.S. and its allies will pursue a "serious series of steps" against Russia if a referendum on Crimea's status goes forward as planned this weekend. --SNIP-- The secretary also said the European community will meet on Monday, and that Obama had indicated he has a strong list of sanctions at the ready in the event that diplomacy doesn't break the stalemate over Ukraine and the Russian incursion into Crimea.

7 Reasons why the Crimea has avoided bloodshed and why region was and remains Ukrainian  by Alexander Briginets This top 7 reasons - is the result of my many meetings in the Crimea with people of different views and opinions. I am deeply convinced that the chances of implementation of Putin's scenario in Crimea are slim or nil. The first reason - the right decisions and heroism of Ukrainian soldiers. Russia was expecting 2 options: aggressive response with firearms or defection to the Russian side. All commanders without central guidance made the right decision - passive resistance. This is the...

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently rejected a U.S. proposal to resolve the dispute over Ukraine that had been put forward by Secretary of State John Kerry over the past week, according to senior Russian and U.S. officials.</p> <p>Mr. Putin's decision led Mr. Kerry to put off a Russian invitation to meet Mr. Putin in Russia, as early as the beginning of this week in Sochi, to discuss the Ukraine crisis, according to these officials.</p>

Last week, I warned that the next step for Russia after seizing the Crimea over the status of ethnic Russians would take place in the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia. All it would take, I argued, would be for Moscow to foment unrest in those ethnic-Russian communities, antagonize the governments in both states, and then insist that Russia had to intervene to protect them. More than a quarter of the population in both countries consist of ethnic Russians, while in Ukraine it only came to 18%.Now it looks like Moscow will skip over the unrest pretext and demand the...

Russia has deliberately sunk three of its own ships to block Ukrainian navy vessels entering a lake off the Black Sea, officers say, highlighting Moscow's determination to wear down the morale of Kiev's forces in Crimea. The Ochakov -- a Soviet-era warship decommissioned in 2011 and set to be sold for scrap -- was towed to the entrance to Lake Donuzlav on Crimea's western coast from the Russian base at Sevastopol on Thursday and blown up. It capsized and, along with two smaller Russian vessels, is now blocking the narrow gap between two spits of land, its hull beaten by...

The United States is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets to Poland as a part of a training exercise, amid continuing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the Polish defence ministry said on Sunday. Three hundred US service personnel will also be sent to Poland as part of the exercise. The deployment will be completed by Thursday. Chuck Hagel, the US Secretary of State for Defence, and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak agreed the deployment during a phone call, according to a statement from the Polish ministry. "The unit will be composed of 12 F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers,"...

SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE - Dozens of military trucks transporting heavily armed soldiers rumbled over Crimea's rutted roads Saturday as Russia reinforced its armed presence on the disputed peninsula in the Black Sea. Moscow's foreign minister ruled out any dialogue with Ukraine's new authorities, whom he dismissed as the puppets of extremists. The Russians have denied their armed forces are active in Crimea, but an Associated Press reporter trailed one military convoy Saturday afternoon from 40 kilometres west of Feodosia to a military airfield at Gvardeiskoe north of Simferopol, over which a Russian flag flew. Some of the army green vehicles had...

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 06, 2014 Readout of President Obama’s call with President Putin of Russia President Obama spoke for an hour this afternoon with President Putin of Russia. President Obama emphasized that Russia’s actions are in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has led us to take several steps in response, in coordination with our European partners. President Obama indicated that there is a way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which addresses the interests of Russia, the people of Ukraine, and the international community. As a part of that...

(Reuters) - Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine will boomerang back on the United States and that Crimea has the right to self-determination as armed men tried to seize another Ukrainian military base on the peninsula. In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against "hasty and reckless steps" that could harm Russian-American relations, the foreign ministry said on Friday. "Sanctions...would inevitably hit the United States like a boomerang," it added.

MOSCOW — Russia signaled for the first time on Friday that it was prepared to annex Crimea, significantly intensifying its confrontation with the West over the political crisis in Ukraine and threatening to undermine a system of respect for national boundaries that has helped keep the peace in Europe and elsewhere for decades. Leaders of both houses of Russia’s Parliament said that they would support a vote by Crimeans to break away from Ukraine and become a region of the Russian Federation, ignoring sanctions threats and warnings from the United States and other countries that a vote for secession would...

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Students at Coral Reef High School in Southwest Miami-Dade will receive a presidential visit Friday. President Barack Obama, along with the First Lady Michelle Obama, arrived right on time at 1:40 p.m. at Homestead Air Reserve Base. The President pay the magnet high school a visit Friday afternoon to kick off a new effort to help students take the first step toward getting a college education. “It’s a historic event,” said student Sumaiya Khandaker. Mr. Obama, in a speech to the school’s seniors, will announce a new initiative to help students complete the Free Application for Federal...

OH NO! Obama may have to cut third vacation THIS YEAR short because of Ukraine President Barack Obama, his wife and the first daughters may have to cut their latest vacation short because of Russia’s meddling in Ukraine. The Obama family’s current plan for the weekend is to escape the cold, snowy doldrums of Washington, D.C. for some rest and relaxation in sunny Key Largo, Fla., reports the Daily Mail. However, despite Obama’s earnest invocations of international law, pro-Russian forces and the Russian government are making swift military and political moves in Ukraine’s Crimea region. Consequently, the Key Largo holiday...

RUSSIA has scuttled a decommisioned vessel in waters off the Crimean town of Myrnyi, effectively blocking access for five Ukrainian Naval ships harboured there. In the early hours of Thursday Russian naval personnel scuttled the decommissioned ship, Ochakov, blockading access for five Ukrainian Naval vessels now trapped inside the Southern Naval Headquarters. Russian war vessels continue to patrol the coast. The move by Russia’s navy comes amid reports that Ukrainian military in Crimea appear to be abandoning their bases. In an extraordinary development to the crisis now politically engulfing most of Europe, the Crimean regional government declared Ukrainian soldiers to...