Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RUSSIA WILL COME under heightened diplomatic pressure today as the UN Security Council and European leaders hold emergency talks on Ukraine, after the seizure of Crimea created the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
The EU summit in Brussels starts at 1030am, when leaders will meet with Ukraine’s prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk who took over after the ousting of president Viktor Yanukovych last month following three months of deadly protests.
Ahead of the summit the EU froze assets held by 18 Ukrainians accused of embezzlement, including ousted Moscow-backed Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr.
As the EU confers on the crisis, 40 unarmed military personnel are expected in Crimea in a mission by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to try to defuse tensions in the flashpoint region.
Later the 15-member UN Security Council will hold closed-door talks from 1930 GMT in New York, the body’s fourth consultations on the subject since Friday.
During an acrimonious round of emergency talks Monday, Russia told other council members that Yanukovych had asked Moscow to dispatch troops to re-establish law and order in his country.
As a permanent member of the council, Russia holds veto power and can block the body’s draft resolutions.
Highlighting the strains on the ground, UN special envoy to Crimea Robert Serry was forced to cut short a visit when he was confronted by unidentified gunmen yesterday, but is expected to return to Kiev soon.
Serry, who had been sent to the tense Black Sea peninsula by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, was confronted by armed men after visiting the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Crimea’s capital Simferopol, he told CNN television.
Prevented from returning to his vehicle, Serry said the men who refused to identify themselves said “they have received orders…. to bring me immediately to the airport” although they declined to say from whom.
“They said it was in my own safety. I refused and a standoff ensued,” he added, saying at one point his driver was pulled from the car.
Serry sought refuge in a local cafe with his assistant to phone the mission and then after a tense two-hour standoff, he was driven to the airport and boarded the first flight out of the region — to Istanbul.
US Secretary of State John Kerry greets Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk [Andrew Kravchenko/AP/Press Association Images]
Pro-Russian forces also entered and took over parts of a Ukrainian missile base yesterday in the latest such incident on the peninsula, while a Ukrainian court ordered the arrest of Crimea’s newly installed pro-Russian prime minister Sergiy Aksyonov for separatism.
Violent protests have also broken out in cities in mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, where several regional government buildings have been taken over by pro-Russian militants who have clashed with police.
But US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was hopeful of a “de-escalation” in the stand-off on the eve of the EU summit after meeting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who pressed for early elections in Kiev.
Yanukovych fled to Russia following a bloodbath in Kiev in which scores of protesters and police officers were killed and, although he insists he is the legitimate president, Moscow has signalled his time is over.
Western leaders have at the same time increased diplomatic pressure on Russia, with some threatening to boycott the G8 summit in Russia in June and NATO saying it will review a series of accords with Moscow.
More stringent sanctions against Russian officials have been mooted but their prospect is seen as unlikely, at least for now.
“The logic is to get out of the crisis, not sanctions,” said a source from the entourage of French President Francois Hollande who will discuss the situation with British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the 25 other European Union chiefs.
Demonstrators gather outside the Russian Embassy in Vilnius [Mindaugas Kulbis/AP/Press Association Images]
As part of the international diplomatic flurry surrounding Ukraine, Kerry is due to meet Lavrov again in Rome today to discuss Ukraine on the sidelines of a conference on Libya.
Kerry failed in an attempt to get Lavrov and Ukraine’s interim foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsya, to sit down for a meeting in Paris yesterday.
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel has said that the United States will bolster military cooperation with Poland and Baltic states to show “support” for its allies following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Let them eat cake.
@Bingobango: will the EU take pitta on the them
@Bingobango: Would that be the same cake Boris Johnson said they could have and eat?
On reading the headline I thought this must be Waterford Whispers. There really is a British Sandwich Association!
@James Darby: they seem to understand how to run a country better than May!
@Chucky Arlaw: and they know what side their bread is buttered on
@Tony Gordon: and its not mayo
Tip of the iceberg
@Dec Moran: there is other lettuce you know
@FlopFlipU: yeah called Teresa May!
@Dec Moran: overrated lettuce
@FlopFlipU: Just cos you know them, doesn’t mean he does
Recent polls from yesterday show nearly 70% of british want another referendum and would now vote to stay in the EU,what a cluster f##k
@dick dastardly: rightly so, it’s turned into a partisan calamity. 52% to 48% was too close to fully implement Brexit
@dick dastardly: Any Link to that poll ? Would be good if true but unfortunately not what I’m seeing.
@dick dastardly: According to the Sky Data poll it is 78% disapproval with the current handling of Brexit by May but it’s still 50/50 on another referendum, which poll are you referring to?
‘And there won’t be snow in Anglia this Christmastime
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life’
Wait…they’ve a sandwich association????
@Graham: the shops on Dorset street should join the sandwich association because they haven’t a clue
Lettuce pray this doesn’t happen
British Sandwich Association… seriously? Hahaha
@David Burns: better than the Irish Onion Growers Association.
@David Burns:Yeah, but its very upper crust.
The UK are a Sandwich short of a Picnic for voting out
The scaremongers are scraping the salad bowl here….next up.
I was watching this. That MP, Fysh is some dope. Typical Tory brexiteer!
@Reg: seems fine to me, not the worst
Oh Dear ,
The Remoaners and the EU Lackey’s are really scraping the barrel with this one . Next they’ll be saying the Germans wont sell them Cars perish the thought
@John Porridge: Of course they’ll continue to sell cars in the UK. They’ll just be way more expensive in the UK, due to tariffs imposed for not being in the free market, if there’s a no deal Brexit. It’s really not that difficult to understand. Unless your a Brexiteer apparently.
@Mark Wallace: Im sure the German car manufacturers will be delighted putting tarrifs on their biggest export Market Mark duh ……..Hyundi anyone ??? Lol
@John Porridge: It won’t be the German car manufacturers imposing tariffs it will be the WTO. If the UK crash out without a deal the will fall under WTO rules.
@John Porridge: Hyundai…..which are also manufactured in the EU. That Hyundai?
@Francis Devenney: thanks for that Francis but the point im making is if tarriffs go on German Car sales into the UK which is their biggest export market then that means job losses in mighty Deutchsland , hence the Germans wont allow that. The Brits just need to use the strong hand they have which is the trade deficit over the EU.
@Reg: thanks Reg , the point is with tarriffs on car exports to the UK it means job losses for the Germans . Hence thats not going to happen so there will be a deal , the brits just need to hold their nerve
@John Porridge: No the Brits will still buy cars they will just pay more for them. Where else are they going to get them tariff free?
@John Porridge: you’re making a lot of assumptions there John, how do you know the EU will just give the UK a deal when the UK can’t work out what they actually want? Just assuming the EU will cave because of German cars is taking a big leap. The EU cannot afford to allow the UK with participation in the single market without following the rules.
@John Porridge: 1 in 7 German cars produced in Germany are sold in the UK. They’ll be grand.
@Francis Devenney: in this day and age possibly 10-12 % extra on a BMW . I doubt it Francis , well i drive a 5 Series and i wouldnt pay the extra 4-5k if it was to go up here as there expensive enough even though they are the best cars
@Dave Harris: hi Dave , my assumption is common sense will prevail and the germans are quite logical so there should be a deal . The UK voted to leave Dave , that means no single market or customs union , if they stay in either of those then their not leaving . Also the EU is controlled by Germany , they dictate the terms hence my point about the cars . Also , if the Brits do leave without a deal its ourselves who will suffer the most so i think the Brit bashing should be put away for a while dont ya think
@Mark Wallace: its actually 20% Reg of all German car exports , thats 1 in 5 so as i said before it would be within the germans interest and ours that a deal is done with the Brits .
Are they based in Sandwich?
@Michael Kavanagh: I doubt it. The term Sandwich comes from when the Earl of Sandwich used to order his meat between two slices of bread in his favourite club, of which I cant remember the name. Its a very English thing. Anyway the UK grows plenty of things to put between slices as they have a more diverse agricultural industry than ours. They have bumper crops of salad produce this year, as well as the grapes and apricots looking good. The wine industry is booming due to the amount of vineyards expanding at a massive rate and they are producing bubbly that knocks spots off champagne. If they get a tough Brexit they will be fine for sandwiches and bubbly.
lettuce brack in!
What a pickle
Fysh sounded like some brainwashed clown
@Seamus G: He seemed to equate import difficulties with a blockade, fysh is the one trying to create project fear.
T
No meal brexit?
Greencore us the worlds (and the UK’s) biggest sandwich maker. They’ll just grow these ingredients in NI or mainland UK. Either way cant see trucks to the UK from Ireland being that distrupted.
wow the scaremongers are everywhere…they really scraping the bottom of the pit with this new tactic.can the eu not just let democracy run and let the uk leave for the love of everything that is holy….
have your say