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Yet world markets seemed to recover from their fright over the situation in Ukraine, clawing back a large chunk of Monday's stock losses, while oil, gold, wheat and the Japanese yen gave back some of their gains.

"Confidence in equity markets has been restored as the standoff between Ukraine and Russia is no longer on red alert," David Madden, market analyst at IG, said Tuesday.

Opinion: A divided Ukraine? Think again

By Maia Mikhaluk, Special to CNN

Maia Mikhaluk is a freelance photographer and one of the protesters who has been documenting the unrest in Ukraine since February 18. In these photos, she offers us a glimpse of the faces inside Maidan, the central square in Kiev where the majority of the demonstrations took place.

Editor's note: Maia Mikhaluk is a freelance photographer and Christian ministry worker in Ukraine. She has been participating in protests in the country ever since former President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia, a move that sparked mass demonstrations in the country's capital, Kiev. Her essay first appeared on CNN iReport and has been edited for length and clarity.

(CNN) -- I am a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. I am ethnically half-Russian, as my father was born in Siberia. I spent much of my life in Donetsk, a Russian-speaking area of Ukraine. Now I live in Kiev.

My kids speak Ukrainian in school and with many of their friends, and we speak Russian at home. When my son's fourth-grade teacher talks to me, she speaks Ukrainian. I respond in Russian. We don't even notice that our conversation is in two languages.

I understand Ukrainian but don't speak it as easily as I speak English. I just never had any pressure to learn it. In Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine, most speak primarily Ukrainian, but even there, I never had anybody look down on me for my Russian. In the eastern and southern regions, many people speak Russian, and there is absolutely no forced "Ukraineization."

You might be asking what all this fuss is about in Crimea, the autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong ties to Russia. Why are thousands coming to the streets with Russian flags? It's easy to explain.

Tracking the crisis in Ukraine as it unfolds

Many people in Crimea and eastern Ukraine don't want the protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But there are some who are afraid of forced Ukraineization because they have been fed propaganda by Russian TV channels for years. The purpose is to convince Ukrainians that we are divided, not one country, and that the safest course of action for Russian-speaking areas is to break away and join Russia.

These ideas have been cultivated since I was a child. I remember when I lived in Donetsk in the '90s, how scared we were that a candidate from western Ukraine would win an election and force us to speak Ukrainian. But when I moved out of the area of aggressive Russian information, I quickly realized I can speak Russian in Kiev or Lviv and no one will ever be upset with me!

Over our 22 years of Ukrainian independence, fears of language or ethnic persecution have never come true. But they were kept alive by Russian propaganda. We understand that Putin is trying to escalate tension and provoke civil war in Ukraine right now. He can't afford for a free Ukraine to succeed: His own people might get an idea that it's possible to overthrow a tyrant and build a prosperous country.

U.N. Security Council meets to discuss Ukraine crisis

Putin won't succeed. Ukrainians are wiser than that and won't kill each other over the nonexistent problem of language. To demonstrate that, last week, people in Lviv (traditionally Ukrainian-speaking) spoke only Russian all day, and in response, those in Donetsk (traditionally Russian-speaking) spoke Ukrainian!

No civil war in Ukraine, Mr. Putin! It must be getting harder to justify the presence of military force to "protect" people when nobody is in danger.

I just talked to my friends in Crimea.

Yuri in Simferopol told me that it's a handful of pro-Russian extremists in the streets trying to make a scene for Russian video cameras -- they are showing that these are the Russians who request protection!

Meanwhile, the rest of the city is terrified by the presence of Russian military forces and are evacuating their families to central or western Ukraine.

I got a similar report from Luda in Kharkov. She said that a large group of Russians were brought across the border by buses, and they were the ones inspiring and instigating unrest that resulted in putting a Russian flag on a municipal building.

The amount of propaganda Russia has poured onto Ukraine is hard to comprehend. Putting troops on Ukrainian land is going to bring the very opposite result from what Putin expected: I believe it's uniting Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia and Putin are getting into deeper isolation from the world as more and more countries are recalling their ambassadors from Russia and condemning the government's actions.

Good job, Mr. Putin! Thank you from all of us Ukrainians (Russian and Ukrainian-speaking) for uniting Ukraine against your military aggression.

WestCoastJoe wrote:

Yet world markets seemed to recover from their fright over the situation in Ukraine, clawing back a large chunk of Monday's stock losses, while oil, gold, wheat and the Japanese yen gave back some of their gains.

"Confidence in equity markets has been restored as the standoff between Ukraine and Russia is no longer on red alert," David Madden, market analyst at IG, said Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/putin-russi ... z2v0sHtmDP

Down day Monday. Recovery Tuesday. The markets do not seem overly worried about this situation in Ukraine and Crimea.

Crimea lawmakers vote to leave Ukraine for Russia, set referendum date

By Laura Smith-Spark and Michael Holmes, CNN

updated 8:26 AM EST, Thu March 6, 2014

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Lawmakers in Ukraine's Crimea region voted Thursday in favor of leaving Ukraine for Russia, which already has the Black Sea peninsula under de facto control, and set a referendum on the move for 10 days' time.

Citizens of Crimea will face a simple choice: Stay in Ukraine or join Russia.

It's not clear how easily the region could split off if the referendum endorses the move.

The autonomous region has a 60% ethnic Russian population, having been part of Russia until it was ceded to Ukraine in 1954 by the Soviet Union.

But not everyone may be as keen on coming under Moscow's direct influence. A quarter of the peninsula's population is Ukrainian and about 12% Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim group.


The parliament in Crimea installed a new, pro-Moscow government late last month. It had previously said a referendum would be held at the end of March on greater autonomy for Crimea.

Citizens will now be asked on March 16 if they want an autonomous republic of Crimea within Russia; or within Ukraine.

Michael Crawford, a former long-serving British ambassador in Eastern Europe, cautioned that whatever the result, it may be meaningless.

"It does not follow that if Crimea votes to join Russia, that anyone will accept it," he said.

"For Russia to start cherry-picking bits of the former Soviet Union, cranking up referenda in Kazakhstan or Latvia or wherever you like, to try to carve off bits, would be against international law, and it would be something Vladimir Putin has said he doesn't want to do."

Putin, the Russian President, has insisted Russia has the right to use military force in Ukraine if necessary to protect ethnic Russians.

But he has denied claims by Ukrainian officials and Western diplomats that Russia has sent thousands of troops into the region in recent days. Russia says the heavily armed troops, in uniforms without insignia, are local "self-defense" forces.

The deputy speaker of the Crimean parliament, Rustam Temirgaliev, said Thursday at a news conference that the only forces allowed in Crimea are the Russian military -- and that all others will be considered to be occupying forces.

He said he'd advised Ukrainian troops to swear allegiance to the Russian army or leave Crimea under safe passage.

In the regional capital, Simferopol, residents have demonstrated this week against the interim government in Kiev, with crowds chanting in favor of Putin.

U.S. visa ban imposed

Amid the rapidly shifting diplomatic sands, European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss possible economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday imposed a visa ban on Russian and Ukrainian officials and individuals responsible for, or complicit in, threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

President Barack Obama also signed an executive order laying the groundwork to impose sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for the crisis.

The impact of sanctions, if they were imposed, might be felt by other countries, too. Russian lawmakers are drafting a law that would allow the nation to confiscate assets belonging to U.S. and European companies if sanctions are slapped on Moscow, Russian state media reported Wednesday.

The Russian threat was not specific, but numerous large European and U.S. companies have interests in the region, and Russia is a major supplier of natural gas to Europe.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called on Russia ahead of the talks to stop stoking tensions in his country, saying Moscow should embrace a political solution to the crisis.

Speaking alongside Martin Schulz, president of the EU Parliament, he accused Russia of further "provocations" in Crimea and urged it to pull back its forces.

"We must take into account that there is a real, dangerous and dramatic situation and tension," Schulz said.

At the same time, Schulz promised that Europe stood behind the new government in Kiev and a peaceful, democratic future for Ukraine. "We are behind you and your government, and we support you with all our means," he said.

Tensions remain high around military bases in Crimea, and there are concerns that violence may erupt as tempers fray.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said unidentified Russian forces had scuttled an old warship to block seven Ukrainian vessels in a Crimean harbor under cover of darkness Wednesday.

Meanwhile, riot police are in a standoff against pro-Russian demonstrators outside government buildings in Odessa, a port city in southern Ukraine.

And in the eastern city of Donetsk, protesters took over a local government building Wednesday as they called for a referendum on the region's status and greater autonomy, witnesses told CNN.

Russian criticism

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier criticized the actions of NATO and a regional security bloc, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Their actions "are not helping to create an atmosphere of dialogue and constructive cooperation" on Ukraine, he said.

The OSCE said Wednesday it had sent 35 unarmed military observers to Odessa in response to a request from Kiev.

Meanwhile, NATO warned it was reviewing its relationship with Russia and suspending some joint undertakings.

Ukraine PM: Crimea 'was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine'

By Chelsea J. Carter. Laura Smith-Spark and Michael Holmes, CNN

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- We're leaving. No, you're not.

That's where the crisis in Ukraine stood Thursday after lawmakers in Crimea voted in favor of leaving the country for Russia and putting it to a regional vote in 10 days.

This act drew widespread condemnation, with Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk calling such a referendum "an illegitimate decision."

"Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine," he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by several world leaders, who called the scheduled vote and possible pullout violations of Ukrainian and international law.

"Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine," said U.S. President Barack Obama. "In 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders."

It's not clear how easily the region could split off from Ukraine even if the referendum endorses the move.

The developments came at a dizzying pace Thursday as Yatsenyuk joined emergency talks in Brussels, Belgium, called by leaders of the European Union who support the Kiev government and want to de-escalate the crisis.

The EU and the United States announced plans to freeze the assets of Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted as Ukraine's president after he turned his back on a trade deal with the EU in favor of one with Russia.

The rejected trade deal prompted months of protests that culminated in February with bloody street clashes that left dozens dead and Yanukovych out of office.

Interpol said it is reviewing a request by Ukrainian authorities that would allow for the arrest of Yanukovych on charges of abuse of power and murder, an allegation tied to the death of protesters.

Moscow has denounced the events that led to Yanukovych's ouster as an illegitimate coup and has refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, putting the two countries on a collision course over control of the Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea that has long ties to Russia and has thousands of Russian troops stationed there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted he has the right to use military force in Ukraine if necessary to protect ethnic Russians under threat in Crimea. Ukrainian officials say no such threat exists and say Putin is using it as a pretext to control the region.

As the standoff continued, Ukrainian authorities announced the arrest Thursday of a leader of a pro-Russian movement in the eastern city of Donetsk. Authorities said he is a Ukrainian national named Pavlo Gubarev, a self-proclaimed governor of Donetsk.

In Crimea, worlds collide

Growing divide

The crisis threatens to not only divide Ukraine, but Russia and the West. Those two sides have exchanged barbs and threatened punitive measures against each other in recent days, all while offering divergent views on the situation in Crimea.

Two diplomats at the center of the crisis -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov -- met face-to-face on Thursday. They agreed to continue talking "over the course of the next hours, the next days'' to try to find a political solution to end the crisis, Kerry told reporters following the meeting.

The diplomats' bosses, Obama and Putin, talked for an hour Thursday afternoon, with the U.S. president stating "Russia's actions are in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty" and that there is a diplomatic way out, according to the White House.

Putin's office said the call -- initiated by Obama -- "revealed differences in approaches and assessments of the causes of the crisis and the current situation." He also voiced Russia's view it "cannot ignore calls for help" from eastern and southeastern Ukraine, before concluding that Lavrov and Kerry "will continue intensive contacts."

Such conversations haven't stopped either side from taking action.

EU nations, for instance, announced Thursday they will suspend bilateral talks with Russia on visa matters and have threatened travel bans, asset freezes and cancellation of the EU-Russia summit.

"Any further steps by the Russian Federation to destabilize the situation in Ukraine would lead to additional and far reaching consequences for relations in a broad range of economic areas," EU leaders said, having also threatened travels bans on certain Russians and the freezing of some assets.

The United States has taken action. The State Department has imposed a visa ban on Russian and Ukrainian officials and others that it says are responsible for, or complicit in, threatening Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Obama signed an executive order laying the groundwork for sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for the crisis.

Despite such pressure, Russia hasn't budged, even refusing to engage in direct talks with the new Ukrainian authorities in Kiev. As his office noted after the Obama call, Putin believes this government "is a result of an unconstitutional revolution" and imposed "illegitimate decisions."

The dispute has threatened to boil into a military conflict.

Putin has denied claims by Ukrainian officials and Western diplomats that Russia has sent thousands of troops into the region in recent days. Moscow says the heavily armed troops, who are in uniforms without insignia and who have reportedly encircled Ukrainian bases, are local "self-defense" forces.

Meanwhile, Russia has begun an air defense drill 280 miles (450 kilometers) from Ukraine's border, reports Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti. A military spokesman called it "the largest-ever exercise held by air defense units" in the region.

Russian authorities said the drills are part of a regular combat training cycle, according to the news agency. But the move comes a day after the U.S. military announced it was beefing up the number of fighter jets in the Baltics, adding six F-15s to the four participating in a NATO mission in the region.

Five possible ways to end the crisis

Voting for Russia or Ukraine?

Amid all the diplomatic wrangling, it is Ukrainians who are most directly affected. And they hardly are speaking with one voice.

Furor in the western part of the country over Yanukovych, his powers and his bringing Ukraine closer to Russia led to his ouster. Now, most people here support the new government and oppose Russian intervention, as well as the prospect of Crimea becoming part of Russia.

The sentiment tends to be very different in Crimea -- which was part of Russia until being given to Ukraine in 1954 by Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev -- and other parts of southern and eastern Ukraine.

Late last month, the parliament in Crimea installed a new, pro-Moscow government late last month -- as armed, pro-Russian men besieged the parliament building -- and does not recognize the authorities in Kiev.

Citizens will be allowed to vote on March 16 on whether they want an autonomous republic of Crimea within Russia; or within Ukraine.

The autonomous region has a 60% ethnic Russian population, having been part of Russia until it was ceded to Ukraine in 1954 by the Soviet Union. But not everyone may be as keen on coming under Moscow's direct influence. About 25% of the peninsula's population is Ukrainian and about 12% is Crimean Tatar, a predominantly Muslim group.

As riot police looked on, hundreds gathered Thursday in the southern port city of Odessa under the flag of the former Soviet Union calling for unity with Russia.

"We are all standing here for Russia," one masked protester told CNN's Matthew Chance. "None of us wants to be part of the European Union."

Late Thursday, the management of the hotel in the Crimean capital of Simferopol where CNN has been based told the network to stop broadcasting from there. Other media outlets got the same message, and no reason was given.

Not everyone in this region wants to become part of Russia. Protesters, including one topless woman who was dragged away screaming, railed against the Crimean parliament vote and Putin. But they were drowned out by a heckling, pro-Russian crowd.

Alex Shiroki, from Yalta, said that his boss asked him, point-blank, "Are you for Ukraine or for Russia?" While his boss favors the latter, Shiroki does not, saying he'd probably leave if Crimea ends up splitting from Ukraine.

U.S. paves way for sanctions on Russians, Ukrainians over Crimea

Michael Crawford, a former British ambassador in Eastern Europe, said that may not happen -- at least easily or peacefully -- even if voters support such a split in the upcoming referendum.

"For Russia to start cherry-picking bits of the former Soviet Union, cranking up referenda in Kazakhstan or Latvia or wherever you like, to try to carve off bits, would be against international law," Crawford said, "And it would be something Vladimir Putin has said he doesn't want to do."

Yatsenyuk said that if Ukraine is broken up, the world will have trouble ever getting another country to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Why? In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in return for guarantees -- signed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia -- of its territorial integrity and independence.

What happens now to Ukraine "will have an impact on nuclear nonproliferation programs," Yatsenyuk said.

Live updates of the crisis in Ukraine

U.N. envoy to CNN: Situation in Crimea 'dangerous'

Anchor quits: I can't be part of network 'that whitewashes' Putin's actions

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- We're leaving. No, you're not.

That's where the crisis in Ukraine stood Thursday after lawmakers in Crimea voted in favor of leaving the country for Russia and putting it to a regional vote in 10 days.

This act drew widespread condemnation, with Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk calling such a referendum "an illegitimate decision."

"Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine," he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by several world leaders, who called the scheduled vote and possible pullout violations of Ukrainian and international law.

"Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine," said U.S. President Barack Obama. "In 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders."

It's not clear how easily the region could split off from Ukraine even if the referendum endorses the move.

Sir Purrcival wrote:I suspect any such vote in Quebec will be conducted with a little more credibility than this one. However, if I recall, there was some issues with the question posed in the last referendum. It wasn't something simple like "Do you want to separate from Canada?" There is a part of me that would not be sad to see Quebec go. I think that many are just tired of the ongoing saga that is Quebec. Even as part of Canada right now, I can't say that I get the feeling that I as an Anglophone feel particularly comfortable or welcome in "La Belle Provence". I guess they feel the same about the rest of Canada. I recently came back from the Dominican where a lot of Quebecer's go for holidays. When I travel, I usually ask locals a little bit about their country and culture and how visitors are when coming through. When I asked about who are the worst visitors this time around, I got the following, Germans and Quebecer's. Both being described as demanding and rude. As an RV'r, I also hear a lot of questions re: snowbirders and again, coming from the East, the overwhelming number of complaints are about RV's with Quebec plates. So maybe it is time to just let things take their course. If they think their culture is going to be more secure on their own, so be it. French is actually the 12th most spoken language in the world right now and slowing losing ground. If being like Fort Apache surrounded by English speaking regions is going help them (without all those Federal dollars to prop it up) then have at it. They can find ways to employ their young people, figure out how to convince manufacturer's that it is worthwhile putting French on labels for products going to an even smaller market in Quebec and so on.