NATO has announced that it is suspending all military and civilian cooperation with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, the bloc said in a joint statement. "We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia. [...]

The combat dolphins of Crimea will now serve the Russian Black Sea Fleet. They will assist divers in searching for sunken ships and lost underwater equipment, Russian naval forces said. The research facility called Kazachya Bukhta, not far from Sevastopol, which explores the military use of common bottlenose dolphins, the best-known member of the dolphin family, was founded back in 1965. [...]

Russia has denied any troop build-up on the Ukraine border, a claim voiced by President Barack Obama and Kiev officials. Moscow slammed the West for ignoring the results of recent fact-finding missions for the sake of political expediency. [...]

The West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, stressing that she hopes for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis. The chancellor said she is “not interested in escalation” of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin. [...]

US President Barack Obama addressed the ministers of the EU-US Summit in Brussels with high-sounding, candy-coated phrases in an apparent effort to mask deep strains in the transatlantic partnership. Very little of what Obama said in Brussels on Wednesday was any different from anything he’d already said before in Prague [...]

Barack Obama'€™s speech on Ukrainian crisis seems to have left the public confused as he claimed that Kosovo broke away from Serbia "€œafter a referendum"€. But attentive listeners quickly pointed Obama'€™s gaps in history -€“ there was no referendum in Kosovo. [...]

President Obama's key speech in Brussels on Ukraine and attempts to isolate Russia appears to be an exercise of omission, mutually-exclusive statements and unveiled double standards. Here's a quick look at what Obama told an audience of some 2,000 people in his damning 30-minute speech. [...]

Moscow'€™s actions in the Crimea are comprehensible, former German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt said, criticizing the Western reaction to the peninsula'€™s reunification with Russia. President Vladimir Putin’s approach to the Crimean issue is “completely understandable,” Schmidt wrote in Die Zeit newspaper where he’s employed as an editor. [...]

In Crimea, some may be surprised by the US'€™s blatant rejection of a clear democratic mandate for independence, as leaders in Washington constantly boast of being "€œdefenders of democracy." €Back in 2003, George W. Bush justified his invasion of Iraq by saying he was “bringing freedom” to Iraq and “removing a dictator.” [...]

Only about a ninth of Ukrainian military personnel currently doing service in Crimea have made a decision to leave the peninsular, Russia'€™s Defense Ministry announced on Saturday. “As of March 21, less than 2,000 out of 18,000 soldiers of Ukrainian military forces, who are currently stationed in the Republic of Crimea, have wished to leave for Ukraine,” says the Ministry’s statement. [...]

Russia is not clinging to the G8 format, as all major world problems can be discussed at other international venues such as G20, Russia'€™s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “The G8 is an informal club, no one gives out membership cards and no one can expel members,” Lavrov told a media conference at the Hague. [...]

A new opinion poll has revealed that the majority of Germans recognize the accession of Crimea to Russia. At the same time, most of them also view the West'€™s response as appropriate. The public opinion poll was conducted by TNS Research at the request of Der Spiegel. [...]

Rallies have swept eastern Ukraine, with residents protesting against Kiev’s coup-imposed government and demanding a referendum to decide on the future of the region. Thousands took to the streets in Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Odessa on Sunday. [...]

Russia is observing all international agreements on troop limits in regions bordering Ukraine, the Russian Deputy Defense Minister said, adding that foreign missions'€™ inspections can confirm that. The statement was made in response to reports by several foreign media outlets over concentrations of "thousands" of Russian servicemen on the Russian-Ukrainian border. [...]

Luke Harding: Lenin's statue still stands in Donetsk where loyalty to the old regime and Russian propaganda have inspired protests against the Kiev 'fascists'. But is this really the next Crimea? In Donetsk's main square, Ukraine's communist leader, Petro Symonenko, was giving an impromptu address to the party faithful. [...]

Recent events are both a knee-jerk reaction by Putin and a culmination of his years of grievances with the international order. When Vladimir Putin summoned the entirety of Russia's political elite to the St George's Hall of the Kremlin to announce that Russia would "welcome back" the territory of Crimea last week, the atmosphere was almost as if they were celebrating a military victory. [...]

Belbek commander reportedly taken away by Russian troops as Obama hopes to increase Russia's isolation on upcoming Europe trip. The White House on Saturday responded cautiously to the news that Russian troops had forced their way into a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea. [...]

India'€™s unambiguous support to Russia on the Ukraine issue has not happened overnight. It has taken years for India to muster the courage to take on the West and support its tried, tested and trusted friend, Russia. Another point needs to be mentioned upfront in this context. The Western sanctions on Russia are not going to work for two reasons. [...]

Western sanctions might push Russia to deepen cooperation with BRICS states, in particular, to strengthen its ties with China, which will possibly turn out to be a big catastrophe for the US and the EU some time later. On March 18, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, claimed in a BBC interview that Russia would switch to new partners in case of economic sanctions being imposed by the [...]

The West has so far refused to legitimize Crimea'€™s decision to secede from Ukraine. Yet Kosovo, which was a part of Serbia, also broke away from its parent country, but has been recognized by the US and most of the EU. But what makes one breakaway more justifiable than another, in the eyes of the world community? [...]

Claiming that Crimea is part of Ukraine is the same as Serbia arguing that Kosovo is not really separated from it, Gregory Copley, editor of Defense & Foreign Affairs, told RT. [...]

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has published a reciprocal sanctions list of US citizens, consisting of 10 names, including: House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, Senator J. McCain; and advisers to President Obama D. Pfeiffer and C. Atkinson. [...]