Obama to meet Ukrainian PM at White House: official

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will meet in Washington this week with Ukraine's interim prime minister, in a show of support amid a tense stand-off with Russia over control of Crimea.
Obama will host crisis talks with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Wednesday, US Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said, confirming earlier reports.
"He has invited the Ukrainian prime minister to come to the White House on Wednesday to further demonstrate... support," Blinken told NBC television's "Meet the Press" program.
Yatsenyuk had earlier announced in Kiev that he would travel to the United States, but gave no details of planned meetings.
Blinken said the US leader has been rallying world support for the Kiev's beleaguered fledgling administration and against Russia's incursion into the Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
"We've seen the president put together a major international support package. In terms of isolating Russia, what we've seen as a result of the mobilized support is the financial markets in Russia have hit lows, the ruble has hit a low, investors are wondering whether to get involved in Russia because of the instability," Blinken said.
"All of that is exacting a real cost and a real consequence."
He added: "The president has made clear that going forward in coordination with our partners and allies we have in place a mechanism with sanctions to raise the cost significantly.
"But this is really a choice for the Russians to make. They have to decide whether they want to resolve the diplomatically or whether they want to face growing isolation, growing economic cost."

EU freezes assets of ousted Ukrainian leader, Yanukovych and 17 others

European Union (EU), a 28-nation bloc on 6 March 2014 froze the assets of Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted Ukrainian leader and Mykola Azarov, the ex-premier. The assets of other 16 former ministers, businessmen and security chiefs were also frozen. The assets were frozen on grounds of fraud as the Ukrainian officials suspected the misuse of state funds and violation of human rights.

This decision was taken by the leaders of European Union during an emergency summit held in Brussels. The summit was held to discuss the crisis in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which at present is under de-facto control of pro-Russian forces.

Earlier, the foreign ministers of EU on 20 February 2014 decided to apply sanctions to any Ukrainian officials who were deemed as responsible for violence against protesters. But the final decision was made during the emergency talks.

These 18 people were listed in the official journal of European Union and these people have been targeted as the people who are subject to criminal proceedings in Ukraine to investigate crimes in connection with the embezzlement of Ukrainian state funds and their illegal transfer outside Ukraine.

These sanctions will be in effect for an initial period of 12 months with an aim to enable Ukraine’s new authorities to recover the frozen funds. Similar moves were also announced by Austria. Swiss authorities have also ordered freeze of assets of all the 18 people including Yanukovych and Oleksandr. Liechtenstein has also frozen the bank accounts of the same officials.

In another movement, MPs in the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea have also voted to formally become part of the Russian Federation.

Lavrov snubs Ukrainian but says talks will continue

PARIS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday resisted Western pressure to meet his Ukrainian counterpart but said talks with the United States and others would continue in coming days.
At the end of a day of intense diplomatic negotiations in Paris, Lavrov left the French foreign ministry without having held a hoped-for meeting with acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya.
The United States, backed by Britain, France and Germany, had urged Lavrov to agree to a face-to-face meeting as a signal of Moscow's willingness to de-escalate the current stand-off with the West over Russia's actions on the Crimean peninsula.
In a short statement, Lavrov said his departure did not mean an end to efforts to resolve the current crisis. "We had a long day of discussions on Ukraine," the veteran Russian diplomat said. "We are all concerned at what it is happening there.
"We agreed to continue those discussions in the days to come to see how best we can help stabilise, normalise the situation and overcome the crisis. "The discussions will continue, and that's it."
Lavrov had earlier held two bilateral meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry. After the second session, the Russian claimed it had been agreed that Ukraine should uphold a February 21 deal signed between now-ousted president Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition.
US officials denied that this had been agreed, insisting that such a deal could be reached only with the involvement of the Ukraine government that has replaced Yanukovich's administration.

Deposed Ukrainian leader asks Putin for troops: Russia

UNITED NATIONS: Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych formally asked Moscow to deploy Russian troops to re-establish law and order in his country, Russia told the UN Security Council on Monday.
Russia's ambassador said Yanukovych sent the written request to President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, addressing the third round of emergency talks on Ukraine in New York in four days.
Vitaly Churkin said what he called "radical extremists" had seized power in Ukraine and -- incited by Western powers -- were threatening the lives and legitimate interests of Russians.
Quoting from Yanukovych's letter of which he flashed up a photocopy for all to see, Churkin said: "Ukraine is on the brink of a civil war. In the country there is chaos and anarchy.
"Under the influence of Western countries there are open acts of terror and violence. People are being persecuted for language and political reasons.
"So in this regard I would call on the president of Russia, Mr Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine," he read.
Russia had called Monday's emergency session of the 15-member Security Council, where Churkin told reporters he would lay out in "considerably more detail" Russia's position on Ukraine.
But his short address provoked stinging rebuke from the British, French and US ambassadors who said Russia was fabricating excuses to justify its flagrant violations of international law.
US ambassador Samantha Power said Russia's claims had no basis in reality and that there was no evidence of violence against Russian or pro-Russian communities in Ukraine.
"Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission. It is a violation of international law," she said.
"Russian mobilization is a response to an imaginary threat... Military action cannot be justified on the basis of threats that haven't been made and aren't being carried out," Power added.
British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant concurred, heavily criticizing Russia's "flagrant breach of international law," and violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"We can see absolutely no justification for these actions."
The interim Ukrainian authorities that took over when Yanukovych fled to Russia late last month, said earlier Monday that Russian troops were still pouring into Crimea.
On Saturday the UN Security Council was mired in similar disagreement when Western nations urged Moscow to pull back its military reinforcements from the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea which has a majority ethnic Russian population.
According to a diplomat on the council, Russia "was taken aback" on Saturday and wanted the follow-up session on Monday "to give its read on events, especially as things go south on the ground."

Protesters raise Russian flag in Ukrainian cities

KIEV: Dozens of people were hurt in clashes on Saturday when pro-Russia activists stormed the regional government's headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and raised the Russian flag, local media said.
The UNIAN news agency said thousands of people had gathered outside the building during a protest against the country's new leaders who ousted President Viktor Yanukovich a week ago.
The violence signalled that Ukraine's new leaders could face a challenge in mainly Russian-speaking regions that oppose the largely pro-Western course charted by the newly installed government.
The leaders of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula with an ethnic Russian majority that is home to a Russian naval base, say they have joined forces with Russian servicemen to exert control over key buildings.
Russian parliament has approved a proposal by President Vladimir Putin to deploy troops in Ukraine.
Protests against the new authorities also took place on Saturday in other cities, including Odessa, Dnipro and Donetsk, Yanukovich's home town and power base.
The Russian flag was raised over the regional government building in Donetsk by several thousand pro-Russia activists waving the Russian tricolour and chanting "Russia! Russia!, witnesses said.
Donetsk authorities issued an appeal for a referendum to be called on the future status of the region.

Hollande warns Ukrainian sovereignty under threat

PARIS: French President Francois Hollande warned that Ukraine's sovereignty was under threat following the Russian parliament's decision on Saturday to authorise sending troops.
The move by the upper house of parliament "poses a real threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine," Hollande said in a statement.