Republic of Crimea

New US legislation authorising sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could undermine relations between Moscow and Washington for a long time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Dec. 19.
      

The European Union on Thursday announced additional economic sanctions against Crimea-based companies over what the bloc calls illegal annexation of the region by Russia.

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When President Vikto Yanukovych of Ukraine fled his capital Kiev on Feb. 21, 2014, after the Maidan protests, very few could have predicted that it would unfold into a second Cold War between Moscow and the West.

Only five days later on Feb. 26, Russian forces sneaked into the strategic Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea, essentially occupying the Ukrainian territory.

The European Union (EU) has readiness to tighten sanctions against Russia, by extending its ban on investments in the Crimea.

The EU will never recognise Crimea's annexation by Russia, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said Monday after the first meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council.

According to AFP, the problem of Crimea was discussed at the meeting.

NATO warned about "wrongly assessing" Russian policy

MOSCOW -- Russia "does not want Ukraine to be split up," NATO intelligence officials say, according to the Russian media outlet RT.

They "warned their colleagues against wrongly assessing Moscow's policy on the crisis in eastern Ukraine."

BELGRADE - The cases of Crimea and Kosovo, whose declaration of independence opened room for redrawing of borders in the world and served as encouragement for secessionist movements, should not be viewed in equal light, participants said during the debate entitled 'From Kosovo to Crimea: Unilateral moves and manipulation involving the right to self-determination'.

Russia's position on Kosovo "firm and reliable"

BELGRADE -- Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said that his country's position not to recognize Kosovo as independent was "firm and reliable."

NATO countries and Ukraine strongly condemned on Dec. 2 a Russian military build-up in Crimea, accusing Russia of “deliberate destabilization” of eastern Ukraine.

The new batch of EU sanctions against 13 representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics in eastern Ukraine and five organisations come into force on Saturday.

They were published in the Official Journal of the EU, with immediate effect. The sanctions includes asset freezes and travel bans within the EU.