Russian Diplomacy
Here's a very informative round up of recent events in Ukraine from the BBC web site which reports the latest Russian sabre rattling from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who succeeded Vladimir Putin as President - only to stand down after serving just one term so that his pal Vlad could return to the top job again.
You've got to laugh at Russian politicians - they're not remotely shy about interfering in the internal affairs of other sovereign states, under the guise of protecting the interests of ethnic Russians, and through the use of military force have even gone as far as annexing two areas of Georgia, Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The question is whether Russia will now be tempted to try and do the same with the eastern part of Ukraine around the Crimea which is home to an important Russian naval base.
Ukraine crisis: Russia steps up Ukraine rhetoric
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: "Result of an armed mutiny"
Russia has stepped up its rhetoric against Ukraine's new Western-leaning leadership as tensions rise over the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych.
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said interim authorities in Kiev had conducted an "armed mutiny".
And the Russian foreign ministry said dissenters in mainly Russian-speaking regions faced suppression.
Earlier, Ukraine's interim interior minister said an arrest warrant had been issued for Mr Yanukovych.
MPs voted to remove Mr Yanukovych on Saturday. His whereabouts are unknown but he was reported to have been in the Crimean peninsula on Sunday.
Russia, angered at the loss of its political ally, has already recalled its ambassador for consultation.
Unrest in Ukraine began in late November when Mr Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Meanwhile, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has arrived in Kiev to discuss financial and political support for Ukraine's new leaders.
Baroness Ashton began her visit by laying flowers in Independence Square to those killed in clashes between protesters and police.
Mr Medvedev, quoted by Russian news agencies, suggested that Western countries that accepted Ukraine's new authorities were mistaken.
"The legitimacy of a whole number of organs of power that function there raises great doubts.
"Some of our foreign, Western partners think otherwise. This is some kind of aberration of perception when people call legitimate what is essentially the result of an armed mutiny."
He added: "We do not understand what is going on there. There is a real threat to our interests and to the lives of our citizens."
Ukraine's foreign ministry quickly responded to Mr Medvedev's concerns for Russian citizens in Ukraine, saying they were "unfounded".
However, Russia's foreign ministry also issued a strongly worded statement saying a "forced change of power" was taking place in Ukraine and accused interim leaders of passing new laws "aimed at infringing the humanitarian rights of Russians and other ethnic minorities".
Activists are still manning barricades in Kiev
Russia, angered at the loss of its political ally, has already recalled its ambassador for consultation.
Unrest in Ukraine began in late November when Mr Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Meanwhile, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has arrived in Kiev to discuss financial and political support for Ukraine's new leaders.
Baroness Ashton began her visit by laying flowers in Independence Square to those killed in clashes between protesters and police.
Mr Medvedev, quoted by Russian news agencies, suggested that Western countries that accepted Ukraine's new authorities were mistaken.
"The legitimacy of a whole number of organs of power that function there raises great doubts.
"Some of our foreign, Western partners think otherwise. This is some kind of aberration of perception when people call legitimate what is essentially the result of an armed mutiny."
He added: "We do not understand what is going on there. There is a real threat to our interests and to the lives of our citizens."
Ukraine's foreign ministry quickly responded to Mr Medvedev's concerns for Russian citizens in Ukraine, saying they were "unfounded".
However, Russia's foreign ministry also issued a strongly worded statement saying a "forced change of power" was taking place in Ukraine and accused interim leaders of passing new laws "aimed at infringing the humanitarian rights of Russians and other ethnic minorities".
Activists are still manning barricades in Kiev
Interim President Olexander Turchynov met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Kiev
Tensions between pro- and anti-Russian supporters are high in Sevastopol, Crimea
Flowers and candles have turned Kiev's Independence Square into a shrine for those killed
"A course has been set towards suppressing dissenters in various regions of Ukraine by dictatorial, and sometimes even terrorist, means," a statement said.
"A course has been set towards suppressing dissenters in various regions of Ukraine by dictatorial, and sometimes even terrorist, means," a statement said.
It did not give any details.
On Sunday, Ukraine's parliament lowered the official status of the Russian language by cancelling a law brought in by Mr Yanukovych.
It has set a Tuesday deadline for a new unity government to be formed.
Interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook that a criminal case had been opened against Mr Yanukovych and other officials over "mass murder of peaceful citizens".
The statement said Mr Yanukovych was last seen in Balaklava on the Crimean peninsula on Sunday.
It said that after dismissing most of his security detail, he had left by car for an unknown destination.
The statement did not name the other figures covered by the warrant.
The peninsula is an autonomous region where the majority of the population is ethnically Russian.
Crimea and some pro-Russian areas in the east have seen protests against the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych, sparking fears that Ukraine could be split apart by separatist movements.
Yanukovych's flight from Kiev
Thousands of people remain in Kiev's Independence Square, the Maidan.
Interim Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov has said Ukraine needs around $35bn (£21bn) in urgent foreign aid and asked for an international donors' conference to be held.
Moscow recently agreed to provide $15bn for Ukraine's struggling economy - a move seen as a reward for Mr Yanukovych's controversial decision not to sign the long-planned trade deal with the EU.
But there are fears Moscow could withdraw that offer. Ukraine has state debts of some $73bn, with around $6bn to be paid this year.
On Sunday, Ukraine's parliament lowered the official status of the Russian language by cancelling a law brought in by Mr Yanukovych.
It has set a Tuesday deadline for a new unity government to be formed.
Interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook that a criminal case had been opened against Mr Yanukovych and other officials over "mass murder of peaceful citizens".
The statement said Mr Yanukovych was last seen in Balaklava on the Crimean peninsula on Sunday.
It said that after dismissing most of his security detail, he had left by car for an unknown destination.
The statement did not name the other figures covered by the warrant.
The peninsula is an autonomous region where the majority of the population is ethnically Russian.
Crimea and some pro-Russian areas in the east have seen protests against the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych, sparking fears that Ukraine could be split apart by separatist movements.
Yanukovych's flight from Kiev
- 21 Feb: leaves Kiev for Kharkiv on helicopter; stays overnight in state residence
- 22 Feb: flies by helicopter to Donetsk airport; tries to leave on private jet but stopped by border guards; leaves by car for Crimea
- 23 Feb: arrives in Balaklava, Crimea, and stays briefly in a private spa before making aborted attempt to reach Belbek airport
- Dismisses most of his security detail; leaves Balaklava in a three-car convoy with some guards and ex-presidential administration head Andriy Kluyev
- Source: Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov
Thousands of people remain in Kiev's Independence Square, the Maidan.
Interim Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov has said Ukraine needs around $35bn (£21bn) in urgent foreign aid and asked for an international donors' conference to be held.
Moscow recently agreed to provide $15bn for Ukraine's struggling economy - a move seen as a reward for Mr Yanukovych's controversial decision not to sign the long-planned trade deal with the EU.
But there are fears Moscow could withdraw that offer. Ukraine has state debts of some $73bn, with around $6bn to be paid this year.
Who is running Ukraine?
Olexandr Turchynov - deputy leader of the Fatherland party and a long-time opponent of Mr Yanukovych; appointed interim president
Arsen Avakov - also a key Fatherland MP, now interim interior minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk - parliamentary leader of Fatherland and the main negotiator during Maidan protests; tipped as a possible future prime minister
Vitali Klitschko - boxer turned politician who was a leading figure in the Maidan; heads Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (Udar); expected to run for presidency
Oleh Tyahnybok - leader of far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party; key Maidan protest leader
Yulia Tymoshenko - former prime minister and opponent of Mr Yanukovych; released from jail as opposition took control of parliament; has ruled out running for PM
Analysis
Famil Ismailov
Famil Ismailov
BBC Russian.com
Mr Medvedev's statement should not come as a surprise. It fits well with the Kremlin's policy of playing on Russians' nostalgia over the Soviet past and treating the West as bent on undermining the new, successful and powerful Russia.
With Ukraine out of the zone of Moscow's influence, President Putin's idea of a customs union which would bring the former Soviet republics under Russia's leadership, becomes a distant and doubtful dream.
"Defending the rights of Russians in Ukraine" is another political concept used by Moscow to promote its geo-strategic interests. The new authorities in Kiev will have to make sure that Ukraine's Russians do not feel excluded from the political process.
The concept had been used as a pretext in 2008 during the armed conflict with Georgia. Russia is now in control of its two breakaway provinces - South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Could the same happen in Crimea? Russia could support separatist sentiments in the region. However, most experts believe that Ukraine's territorial integrity is not in danger.
Mr Medvedev's statement should not come as a surprise. It fits well with the Kremlin's policy of playing on Russians' nostalgia over the Soviet past and treating the West as bent on undermining the new, successful and powerful Russia.
With Ukraine out of the zone of Moscow's influence, President Putin's idea of a customs union which would bring the former Soviet republics under Russia's leadership, becomes a distant and doubtful dream.
"Defending the rights of Russians in Ukraine" is another political concept used by Moscow to promote its geo-strategic interests. The new authorities in Kiev will have to make sure that Ukraine's Russians do not feel excluded from the political process.
The concept had been used as a pretext in 2008 during the armed conflict with Georgia. Russia is now in control of its two breakaway provinces - South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Could the same happen in Crimea? Russia could support separatist sentiments in the region. However, most experts believe that Ukraine's territorial integrity is not in danger.
Russian Humour (27 June 2013)
I've never really regarded as Valdimir Putin as a man with a good sense of humour - somehow the Russian President's background as a KGB spook didn't lend itself to thinking of Vlad as the kind of chap with whom you could enjoy a good old belly laugh.
But I take it all back, I was wrong and I'm not afraid to admit as much - because President Putin has had me in stitches over these past couple of days with his official denial that the American NSA (national Security Agency) 'spook on the run' - Eric Snowden - has not laid his little feet on Russian soil.
Now as anyone who travels regularly these days will tell you - there are lots of officious officials at every airport in the world who are only to keen to let you know that if you don't do exactly what they say - then you will be escorted off the premises by security and delivered into the arms of the waiting police - who will arrest you and throw you in jail.
So the fact that the transit lounge in Moscow airport has suddenly become a safe haven from tyrants, petty officials and foreign governments - a place which is part of Mother Russia yet not part of Mother Russia at the same time (even when a fugitive traveller turns up without a valid passport) - is a really great comic idea.
Like something out of Planes, Trains and Automobiles - a great travel film starring Steve Martin and the late John Candy.
Yet, in reality, everyone knows that all these spooks and spies are spying on each other's countries all of the time - though in some cases things turn nasty and deadly as they did with the Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko - who was mysteriously poisoned by ingesting a fatal dose of radioactive Polonium one day, shortly after having tea in the centre of London.
Nothing funny about that you might say - and you'd be dead right.
Yes, Prime Minister (7 Ooctober 2011)
The newspapers yesterday gave a whole new meaning to the old TV catch-phrase - Yes, Prime Minister!
Apparently a film showing Russian Prime Minister and all round 'action man' - Vladimir Putin - discovering ancient Greek pottery while diving at the bottom of the Black sea - was completely staged.
Now Vlad - as he's known to his friends - was diving with a handy film crew in tow - when he came across the two ancient pieces of pottery - and his 'discovery' was shown on Russian TV with the PM proudly showing off his trophies.
"It's my trophy", Putin reportedly said at the time.
The following month the current Russian President - Dmtry Medvedev - announced he would be standing down in Putin's favour in the next presidential election.
Which leaves the way clear for Russia's 'iron man' - to serve another 8 year term as president - a post he has held previously of course - between 2000 and 2008.
But the Russian authorities have now admitted that it was all a put-up job - with a spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitting that:
"Putin did not find the amphorae on the sea bed that had been lying there for thousands of years."
That is obvious. They were found during an (archaeological) expedition several weeks or days beforehand.
"Of course, they were then left there (for him to find) or placed there. It is a completely normal thing to do."
Which of course it is - especially if you don't want to find a dose of radioactive Polonium in your teapot.
So I can understand why Presidential or Prime Ministerial lackeys - would want to go out of their way to show their man - in the best possible light.
Me - I'd be leaving Rolex watches and fancy goods all over the place - in the hope of currying a bit of favour.
But next time you see Vlad wrestling a bear - or saving young children from a burning building - just take it with a big pinch of salt.
Meantime I'm going to e-mail David Cameron's office to suggest that on Vlad's next visit to the UK - in keeping with his 'iron man' image - Vlad should have his drinks served in a dirty glass - and be invited to bite the caps off his own beer bottles.
