Russia wants Interpol to put Khodorkovsky on wanted list

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Russian prosecutors say they are lobbying Interpol to put Russia’s once richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky on a wanted list.
The country’s top investigative body last year declared Khodorkovsky arrested in absentia.

The Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon has lived abroad since 2013 when he was pardoned after serving 10 years in a Russian prison. Investigators accuse Khodorkovsky of involvement in the 1998 murder of a Siberian mayor.

The prosecutor general’s office said on Monday that Russia would supply Interpol with more information to back up an arrest warrant for Khodorkovsky that Interpol previously rejected.

Russian is ready to coordinate with the West over strikes on Syria, Putin says

President Vladimir Putin of  Russia late Thursday said he was ready to coordinate strikes against the Islamic State with the United States and its allies but warned that acts like the Turkish downing of a Russian jet could destroy any chance of collaboration.

After talks with French President François Hollande at the Kremlin, Putin said, "We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States."

It was the most forthright commitment to a joint effort between Russia and the West since Moscow's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

President Putin says second pilot of downed warplane rescued from rebel territory

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has on Wednesday said that the second pilot of a Russian military jet that was shot down by Turkey near the Syrian border has been rescued.

Putin's comments appeared to confirm a statement from the Syrian armed forces that said a special unit carried out a "qualitative" operation with Russian forces overnight. The statement said Syrian and Russian forces penetrated into the areas where "terrorists" are entrenched at a depth of 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and rescued the pilot. It said he is in "good health."

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told local news agencies that the pilot was rescued in a 12-hour operation which ended earlier Wednesday. Shoigu said the airman is now "safe and sound" at Russia’s air base in Syria.

Rising tensions in Ukraine as NATO ships arrive in Lithuania

A group of NATO ships has arrived in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda to “ensure regional security,” the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense has said. Russia has already voiced its concern over the “unprecedented” buildup of NATO forces in the region.

The group is composed of 4 minesweeping ships from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia as well as one supply vessel. The ships will take part in intensive military drills, stopping off at various ports in the region. They will also participate in operation “Open Sprit” deactivating underwater explosives.

Russia Will settle for Crimea Peninsula, "No Intention" of Further Ukraine Incursion - Russian Lavrov

After the US president Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin telephone conversations in the early hour of today, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said on Saturday that Russia  had "no intention" of invading eastern Ukraine. This is response  to Western warnings over a military buildup on the border following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Kiev clashes: Govt and opposition talks fail, new wave of unrest in Ukraine; Russia says UN resolution "Counterproductive"

Ukraine's Ministry of Health reports that the number of victims of the riots in Kiev has reached 25 people.

"Twenty five people have died: eight of them after having been hospitalized in city hospitals (including a journalist from “Vesti” newspaper), and four in the hospital of the Interior Ministry. Thirteen victims have been conveyed to the Kiev city clinical bureau of forensic medical examination," the Ministry of Health reports.

Crimea Latest: Russian parliament ratified treaty to make Crimea part of Russian Federation

Russia's lower parliament ratified a treaty to make Crimea a part of the Russian Federation on Thursday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had presented the treaty on annexing Crimea to lawmakers, urging them to accept the region as a part of the Russian Federation.

Speaking "on behalf" of President Vladimir Putin, he told the State Duma folding the Black Sea Peninsula into Russia was needed to protest ethnic Russians there. "I hope this will become a turning point in the fate of many people who are united by many things," Lavrov said.

Russian Putin signed a decree on Monday recognising Ukraine's Crimea region as a sovereign state

[Reuters] President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sign a decree on Monday recognising Ukraine's Crimea region as a sovereign state, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin press service as saying.

Crimean vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum that has fanned the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. The Kremlin’s official website quoted Putin’s decree as recognising “the Republic of Crimea… as a sovereign and independent state.”

It was issued “considering the expression of the will of the people of Crimea at the general Crimean referendum” on Sunday, it said.

Ukrine Crisis: Crimea Belongs to Russia, Putin Should Annex Eastern Ukraine Too - Fani-Kayode

           Support for Russians Gains More Momentum

 Claiming that the Crimea is not Russian is absurd and it betrays nothing but ignorance says the former Nigerian minister, Femi Fani- Kayode while reacting to the Ukrainian-Russian crisis in Crimea peninsula. 

According to Fani-Kayode; "it is rather like saying that the people of the city of Ilorin and it's environs in Kwara state and the people of Kabba, Yagba-West, Yagba-East, Mopa-Amuro, Ijumu and Kabba-Bunu local government areas in Kogi state respectively are not Yoruba and that those areas are not part of Yoruba land".

"Historically the Crimea has always been part of Russia and 70 per cent of it's population are not only ethnic Russians but they also speak nothing but the Russian language. There are also massive and substantial pockets of Russian populations in eastern Ukraine."

It is absolutely absurd for anyone to assume that the Russian Federation would sit by silently and allow the lives, the future and the fortunes of their kinsmen from those parts to be in any way threatened. I am therefore in total agreement with the actions of President Vladimir Putin of Russia in the Crimea. 

The former Minister said Russian Putin has done the proper thing in protecting the Russians' interests and that he need to go further to annex the Eastern Ukraine as well.

Russian Fighter Jets Invade Ukraine's Air Space, US Warships Deployed To Western Side Of Black Sea facing the Russians

KIEV, March 3 (Reuters) - Russian fighter jets twice violated Ukraine's air space over the Black Sea during the night, Interfax news agency quoted the Defence Ministry as saying on Monday.

It said Ukraine's air force had scrambled a Sukhoi SU-27 interceptor aircraft and prevented any "provocative actions" but gave no further details.

Earlier on Saturday March 1, Moscow staged their first attack on a Ukraine military installation in Crimea, while completing their takeover of the region and its severance from Ukraine.