BREAKING: Ukraine's defense ministry has been given orders to withdraw Ukrainian forces from Crimea: acting presiden

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry has been given orders to withdraw Ukrainian forces from Crimea – acting President (Reuters)

Crimea Latest: Russia commences the issuing national passports for Crimeans – Migration Service

The first passports have been handed out to the new Russian citizens in Crimea on Wednesday, the head of the Federal Migration Service said.

The treaty of Crimea's accession to Russia "was signed yesterday… And all, who appealed to the Federal Migration Service in the Crimea, will receive their passports. This work has started. Some of the passports were issued today,” said Konstantin Romodanovskiy, the head of the Federal Migration Service, as cited by Itar-Tass news agency.

Meanwhile, funds from the Russian budget will be used to help Crimea solve and Sevastopol solve its economic problems, country’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, announced.

"The total deficit on the budget of Sevastopol and Crimea in 2014 is 55 billion roubles (around $1.5 billion),” Siluanov is cited by RIA-Novosti news agency.

The minister specially stressed that the National Welfare Fund won’t be affected as the money for the Crimea will be taken from the unallocated reserve of the Russian budget.

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RT

Crimea Latest: Russian Putin Says He And Obama Has No Common Gground On Ukraineian Crisis

Presidents fail to find common ground during second phone call in six days on escalating crisis

Russia and the US are still stuck in a stalemate on Ukraine but relations between the two countries should not be sacrificed because of their differences, Vladimir Putin has said after a phone call with Barack Obama.
President Putin's remarks were carried in a Kremlin statement issued on Friday, following the Thursday night telephone call with President Obama, the Reuters news agency reported.

"The discussion revealed the differences in the approaches and assessments of the crisis and current situation," the statement said.

During the one-hour call the US leader urged his Russian counterpart to engage with diplomatic efforts to defuse a crisis that began with anti-government protests in November and this week escalated with a threat of secession in the strategically-important peninsula of Crimea after armed men seized government buildings and military installations.