G7 LEADERS THREATEN TO INTENSIFY SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA
Russia will face sanctions designed to harm specific economic sectors
if it fails to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, U.S. President
Barack Obama said Tuesday.Obama, speaking at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit at The Hague, Netherlands, said the sanctions could target Russia’s energy, finance, arm sales and trade sectors.
“We are prepared to take the next step if the situation gets worse,” Obama said.Potential sectoral sanctions are still being researched, Obama said. Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, standing at a podium alongside Obama, said European countries support the U.S. idea, even though the new sanctions would have global financial repercussions.
Obama conceded Russia has a right to station 30,000 of its troops
near the eastern Ukrainian border, but urged Vladimir Putin’s government
to seek a diplomatic solution with Ukraine.
- “This is not a zero sum game,” Obama said, adding there was a place for Russia’s influence in Ukraine.
- “It is up to the Ukrainian people to make decisions about how they organize themselves and who they interact with."
- Side discussions about Ukraine have overshadowed some of the summit's nuclear agenda. On Wednesday, G7 leaders issued a declaration reiterating their support for Ukraine’s new government and calling Russia’s annexation of Crimea illegal.
The leaders “reaffirm our support for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence,” the declaration read.
The G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and U.S. called on Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine, and begin talks with the interim government.
The G7 did praise Russia for its decision to allow observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) into Ukraine.
Representatives from Ukraine, meanwhile, worked on a deal with the International Monetary Fund to provide a $15-20-billion relief package.
The G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and U.S. called on Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine, and begin talks with the interim government.
The G7 did praise Russia for its decision to allow observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) into Ukraine.
Representatives from Ukraine, meanwhile, worked on a deal with the International Monetary Fund to provide a $15-20-billion relief package.
Source: CBC
UKRAINE ARMED GROUPS REJECT EXTREMIST LABEL
Former President Yanukovich - and many in Russia - have described Ukraine's interim government as illegitimate and controlled by dangerous extremists.
Many Ukrainians who took part in the revolution to remove President Yanukovich from power disagree with those claims. They say it's an insult to the sacrifices they have made. Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports from Kiev.
UKRAINE ARMY ON FULL ALERT AS RUSSIA BACKS SENDING TROOPS
KEIV - Ukraine has put its armed forces on full combat alert and warned Moscow that any military intervention in the country would lead to war after upper house of Russia's parliament agented Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, the authority to use the country’s armed forces in its neighbour. 
After a more than three-hour meeting with security and defence chiefs, Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine's interim president, said there was no justification for what he called Russian aggression against his country.
Turchynov said that authorities had boosted security around the country’s nuclear facilities, airports and other "strategic facilities".
Standing beside Turchinov, Arseny Yatseniuk, Ukraine's prime minister, said he had urged Russia to return its troops to base in the Crimea region during a phone call with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's prime minister, and called for talks.
Putin and Barack Obama, the US president, held a 90-minute telephone call on Saturday in which the Russian president told his US counterpart that Russia reserves the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers if there is violence in east Ukraine or Crimea, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Source: BBC
VIOLENT CLASHES IN UKRAINE LEAVE MANY DEAD
KIEV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s festering political
crisis has turned deadly, with at least nine people reported killed and
scores injured in violent clashes between anti-government demonstrators
and police in Kiev.
The government shut down
subway stations in the centre of the capital and threatened to restore
order, but an evening deadline passed Tuesday with no immediate police
action.
Source: Agency
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