Russian bonds and the ruble fell for a fifth day as tension persisted. The Micex Index of equities dropped 2 percent, while Ukraine’s UX Index tumbled 3 percent in the biggest decline among 94 world stock gauges.
Putin’s approval rating among Russians climbed to a three-year high of 72 percent, the state-run All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion said on its website. That compares with 67 percent last month when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Another poll by the Levada Center found that 58 percent of Russians back some degree of military intervention in Ukraine.
Russia stepped up military maneuvers on the border with Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said today, according to the Interfax news service. Six Russian fighter jets and three transport planes arrived in Ukraine’s northern neighbor, Belarus, for joint drills, the Defense Ministry there said.
“If negotiations with Russia don’t take place in the next days -- and by that is meant negotiations that bring results and don’t play for time -- then the EU foreign ministers will at their council meeting next Monday, March 17, seal further second-stage measures,” said Merkel, who likened Russia’s efforts to annex Crimea to the imperialism of centuries past. “That includes bars on travel, freezing bank accounts and cancellation of EU-Russia Summit.”
Russian government officials and businessmen are bracing for sanctions resembling those applied toIran, according to people with knowledge of the preparations. Putin met senior officials yesterday in Sochi, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said by phone. Putin urged the government to ensure Russia’s “ability to react immediately to internal and external risks.”
Putin’s approval rating among Russians climbed to a three-year high of 72 percent, the state-run All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion said on its website. That compares with 67 percent last month when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Another poll by the Levada Center found that 58 percent of Russians back some degree of military intervention in Ukraine.
Russia stepped up military maneuvers on the border with Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said today, according to the Interfax news service. Six Russian fighter jets and three transport planes arrived in Ukraine’s northern neighbor, Belarus, for joint drills, the Defense Ministry there said.
“If negotiations with Russia don’t take place in the next days -- and by that is meant negotiations that bring results and don’t play for time -- then the EU foreign ministers will at their council meeting next Monday, March 17, seal further second-stage measures,” said Merkel, who likened Russia’s efforts to annex Crimea to the imperialism of centuries past. “That includes bars on travel, freezing bank accounts and cancellation of EU-Russia Summit.”
Russian government officials and businessmen are bracing for sanctions resembling those applied toIran, according to people with knowledge of the preparations. Putin met senior officials yesterday in Sochi, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said by phone. Putin urged the government to ensure Russia’s “ability to react immediately to internal and external risks.”
