Ukraine

One by one, President Barack Obama's warnings to Russia are being brushed aside by President Vladimir Putin, who appears to be speeding up efforts to formally stake his claim to Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Lawmakers in Crimea called a March 16th referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia instead, voting unanimously Thursday to declare their preference for doing so.

Accusing the West of encouraging an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians there.

President Barack Obama says Russia is "on the wrong side of history" in Ukraine and its actions violate international law.

Ukraine's military admitted Monday that pro-Russian troops have surrounded or taken over "practically all" its military facilities in Crimea — a move that Russia's foreign minister defended as a necessary protection for the ethnic Russians on the Black Sea peninsula.

As hundreds of armed men surrounded a Ukrainian military base in Crimea on Sunday, world leaders and Ukraine's new prime minister urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back his military.

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked parliament Saturday for permission to use the country's military in Ukraine, moving to formalize what Ukrainian officials described as an ongoing deployment of Russian troops in the strategic region of Crimea.

Russia scrambled fighter jets to patrol its border and reportedly gave shelter to Ukraine's fugitive president as pro-Russian gunmen stormed offices of Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea, deepening the crisis for the new Ukrainian government even as it was being formed.

Ukraine's acting government issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of President Viktor Yanukovych, last reportedly seen in the pro-Russian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, accusing him of mass crimes against protesters who stood up for months against his rule.

The whereabouts and legitimacy of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych were unclear on Sunday, after he left the capital and his archfoe Yulia Tymoshenko was freed from prison and returned to Kiev to address a massive, adoring crowd.