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On Wednesday, the National Geographic Society announced that they would be altering the global map to include Crimea in the map of Russia after Crimea’s secession from Ukraine is legally finalized. On Tuesday, National Geographic editorial leadership, led by geographer Juan Jose Valdes, determined that maps used by the organization must show “the world as it is, not as people would like it to be…As you can only surmise, sometimes our maps are not received in a positive light by some individuals who want to see the world in a different light.”

MOSCOW, March 17, /ITAR-TASS/. President Vladimir Putin on Monday, March 17, signed a degree recognising the Republic of Crimea as a sovereign and independent state. “1. Considering the will of the peoples of Crimea expressed at the all-Crimea referendum on March 16, 2014, I hereby decree that the Republic of Crimea, where the City Of Sevastopol has a special status, be recognised as a sovereign and independent state,” the decree said. The decree entered into force upon signature, the presidential press service said.

In the wake of a March 16 referendum in which Crimeans voted to join the Russian Federation, Ukrainian leaders refused to cede any part of the peninsula, calling on their troops to prepare for war. “Crimea was, is, and will be our territory,” said Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh in a statement delivered at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center on March 17. Former heavyweight boxing champion and leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform Vitali Klitschko announced that Ukrainian troops would remain at their bases, even after March 21, the end of a peace treaty signed by the interior ministries...

SIMFEROPOL, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Crimean premier Sergey Aksyonov told Channel One a delegation of Crimea’s parliament would leave for Moscow on March 17 to work with Russian colleagues on the accession to Russia. “The Crimean parliament will gather for an extraordinary session at 10:00 on March 17 to approve the results of the referendum. In the afternoon the parliament’s delegation will leave for Moscow for further consultations with Russian colleagues over the accession to Russia as a constituent entity,” Aksyonov said.

MOSCOW, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Leader of the A Just Russia Party Sergei Mironov told Channel One on Sunday the State Duma, lower house of Russia’s parliament, will quickly approve all laws on Crimea’s accession to Russia. “We’ll approve all laws as soon as reasonably possible,” Mironov said. “All will happen strictly and quickly. Our Crimean brothers should not doubt,” he said.

MOSCOW, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Sunday’s referendum in Crimea, in which the voters expressed their will on the future of their region, is a historic moment for Russia, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview with the Moscow-based Channel One television channel. He called for awaiting the final results of the referendum first, yet he underlined the fact Russia had mostly been losing people in previous years. “And here at last we’re getting our compatriots back,” Naryshkin said. “So that’s a historic moment for Russia.” “The figures produced by the referendum speak for themselves, just look at the voters’...

Let’s start with money matters. Who will pay the pensions of retirees who paid into the Ukrainian system? Voters are being told that Russia will assume the obligations for all pensions, with a big leap in benefits. For example, the average monthly pension in Russia is said to be about $270, almost double the $150 paid in the average Ukrainian’s monthly pension. And the retirement age will drop by five years, to 60 for men and 55 for women. And what about schools? Schoolchildren are expected to get new history books with a more outsize section on Russian history...

With a voter turnout (79.09%) that exceeded every US Presidential election since 1900, the people of Crimea have spoken: *CRIMEA JOINING RUSSIA BACKED BY 93% OF VOTERS: EXIT POLL Ukraine's leaders have called up 20,000 men for a newly-created National Guard as despite the so-called "truce" Russian APCs and Tanks are rolling. Pro-Russian supporters are burning books in Donetsk after storming anti-Russian buildings. The White House is already out rejecting the vote (before the final results are released). Voter Turnout (by region): As exit polls confirm overhwleming support for Crimea to join Russia... Exit poll by Crimea-based Republican Institute for...

Polling stations in Crimea have closed, the referendum is over. According to the exit polls, 93 percent of people voted for Crimea's accession to Russia at the referendum. A total of 93 percent of residents of Crimea voted for joining Russia at a referendum on Sunday, an exit poll publicized by the Rossiya 24 TV channel shows. Seven percent of Crimeans favored being a part of Ukraine, it shows. The voter turnout exceeded 80 percent, the Crimean News Agency reported. The voting ended at 20:00 pm local time. Crimeans were able to cast votes at 1,205 polling station. Read more:...

(Reuters) - Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders "the ground will burn under their feet". RIA news agency said 93 percent backed annexation, citing an exit poll released as voting ended at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Another Russian agency said turnout was over 80 percent. Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Kiev said Russia's build-up of forces in the Black Sea region was in "crude violation" of an international treaty, and announced...

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/KIEV (Reuters) - Crimeans voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with Kiev accusing Moscow of rapidly building up its armed forces on...

peculation was growing last night that American mercenaries had been deployed to Donetsk after videos emerged of unidentified armed men in the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city. At least two videos published on YouTube earlier this week show burly, heavily armed soldiers with no insignia in the city, which has been gripped by pro-Moscow protests. In one of the videos onlookers can be heard shouting 'Blackwater! Blackwater!' as the armed men, who wear no insignia, jog through the streets....

In a serious escalation of tension in Crimea, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest was kidnapped on Saturday. Sources in Ukraine say Father Mykola Kvych, a pastor and a Ukrainian military chaplain, was abducted by pro-Russian forces after celebrating the liturgy. Reports Saturday evening suggest Father Kvych may have been released, but those reports have not yet been confirmed. “Every abduction is a terrible event for everybody involved,” said Bishop Borys Gudziak, the Eparch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy. “It’s a gross violation of human rights and God-given human dignity.” He expressed his grave concern about the repercussions of the...

KIEV - The man Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast as one of Europe's potential new Adolf Hitlers is a little late for coffee this Saturday morning. Igor Mazur, or Topoyla (Poplar) as he's known because he's 6'7" is the leader of the Ukranian Right Sector at Maidan, Kiev's Independence Square. The Right Sector are the radical nationalists of this Ukranian Revolution. There are others: the right-wing Svoboda (Freedom) Party, for one, which has an actual political following, 12 percent of the vote in the last elections. It used to identify itself as a national socialist movement, just like the...

With a day left until the critical, if widely expected, results from the Crimean referendum are revealed, it is worth recalling the main footnote in last night's State Department travel alert for Russia: "all U.S. citizens located in or considering travel to the border region, specifically the regions bordering Ukraine in Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Rostov Oblasts and Krasnodar Krai, should be aware of the potential for escalation of tensions, military clashes (either accidental or intentional)." See, for the purpose of a military provocation, "accidental" will do. It is therefore not surprising to see that moments ago all...

President Obama with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Pete Souza A great deal of ink has been spilt over the evolving situation in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s de facto annexation of Crimea. At present, Crimea’s parliament has called for a public referendum to consider formal secession from Ukraine—the vote will be held on March 16.The Ukrainian government holds that Crimea’s upcoming referendum is unconstitutional, but no one in the Crimean government cares what Ukraine thinks. Regardless, the “popular vote” will likely result in Crimea’s separation from Ukraine for four reasons: 1) Crimea’s population is nearly 60 percent ethnic Russian;...

An election silence day begins Saturday in the Autonomous Ukrainian Republic of Crimea, where most residents are Russians, and the city of Sevastopol, which has a special status in Ukraine, prior to the March 16 secession referendum. “However, being guided by international standards of organization of the voting process, including referendums, we decided that there should be ‘a day of silence’,” Polonsky said. He said it means that Crimean media, including television, would see no campaigning for the autonomy to become or not become part of Russia, but that there would be no ban on urging residents to vote.

Spokesman Jay Carney said, “we are late in the game” regarding the situation in Crimea & Sunday’s referendum

Talks between U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the crisis in Ukraine reached an apparent impasse Friday, with Lavrov indicating afterward that the two had reached no “common vision” and Kerry saying that Moscow is determined to let a Crimean secession vote go ahead. Kerry told reporters that after six hours of talks with Lavrov, “the foreign minister made it clear that President [Vladimir] Putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum on Sunday.” He referred to a Crimean vote on independence, which Crimean officials have...

Russia and the US have "no common vision" on the crisis in Ukraine, Russia's foreign minister has said after talks with his US counterpart. However Sergei Lavrov added that his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry had been "constructive". Mr Kerry said the US was "deeply concerned" about Russian troop deployments on Ukraine's eastern border and in Crimea. The two foreign ministers held six hours of talks in London. Mr Lavrov told reporters that Russia had no plans to invade south-eastern Ukraine. Russia would "respect the will of the people of Crimea", he said, ahead of Sunday's referendum there....