Russian naval forces got in a confrontation with Turkish vessels in the Black Sea, with control of contested oil platforms off the Crimean Peninsula at issue.
In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.
Crimean Tartars, blockading the Ukrainian border in protest of Russia's annexation of their homeland, are said to be collaborating with Ukraine's neo-fascist Right Sector.
The Russian policy establishment is hypothesizing an ISIS hand in the bloody attack by Chechen insurgents in Grozny—and implying that the West is in turn behind ISIS. (Map via La Croix International)
Crimean Tatars pledge to resist Russian demands that they register their Majlis as a "civic organization" and surrender "forbidden" Islamic literature.
Crimean Tatar leaders, forced into exile by Russian judicial orders, accuse Moscow of a campaign of raids and harassment aimed at driving Tatars from the peninsula.
Putin's political machine convened an "anti-fascist" summit at Yalta in annexed Crimea, attended by Hungary's Jobbik party, the British Nationalist Party and other neo-fascist entities.
With the open encouragement of Putin, separatists in eastern Ukraine are reviving the concept of "Novorossiya" (New Russia)—a dangerous precedent for revanchist claims.
Some 10,000 people turned out in Moscow for an anti-Kremlin "March of Truth" to denounce Russian state television's coverage of the Ukraine crisis.
The Majilis of Crimean Tatars voted to seek "a national autonomous territory" on the peninsula, with leaders calling on their people to stay and fight for their rights.
Russia's annexation of Crimea has sent nearly a thousand of the region's ethnic Tatars fleeing the peninsula for western Ukraine, faced with threats by local authorities.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea are now facing off with Russian troops and paramilitary forces—with one reported dead as Crimea was formally annexed.
