Last week, the Irish Examiner published an opinion piece from the Russian ambassador marking the fifth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. Olena Shaloput of the Ukrainian Embassy responds

A stable and secure EU could become the most important pillar of the UK’s post-Brexit security strategy, writes Jacek Rostowski

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a meeting of the country's top brass to discuss boosting security in Crimea after reports of foiled attacks.

A Russian security agent and a soldier have been killed fending off what Moscow described as a series of attempted terror attacks by the Ukrainian military intelligence in Crimea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described a secret meeting with officials last year when Russia decided it would take Crimea – the Black Sea region that Moscow annexed from Ukraine last March.

Vladimir Putin’s nostalgia for the Soviet Union has never been a secret but, post-Crimea, the Kremlin has been actively campaigning for a return to a totalitarian state, writes Owen Matthews.

A rare white Bengal tigress has given birth to four cubs at a zoo in Crimea’s Yalta Zoo.

However superficial the comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin may appear, the chilling similarities between their mutual strategies have become more ominous by the day.

This week’s Small Business Show looks at developments for rural communities and whether consumers can work with more austerity budgets and still be expected to spend in order to buoy the economy.

Vladimir Putin wants to restore Russia to what he claims is its former glory. And Ukraine is the starting point, writes Richard Haass

Crimea, officially annexed by Russia, is experiencing turbulent times as Vladimir Putin puts his mark on all facets of life on the peninsula, writes Alissa de Carbonnel

WHY do Russian artists so eagerly support Putin’s policy in Crimea?

President Barack Obama said Russia’s troop build-up on the Ukraine border was out of the ordinary and called on Moscow to pull its military back and begin talks to defuse tensions.

A top air force commander is being held after his base in Crimea was stormed by pro-Russian forces, Ukraine’s acting president said as he called for his release.

President Vladimir Putin completed the annexation of Crimea yesterday, signing the peninsula into Russia at nearly the same time his Ukrainian counterpart sealed a deal pulling his country closer to Europe.

President Vladimir Putin has said there is no need for Russia to further retaliate against US sanctions.

Pro-Russian forces have seized three Ukrainian warships and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the US announced a new round of sanctions against Russia.

The EU leaders have much to ponder as the crisis increases, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

US vice president Joe Biden is warning Russia that the United States will respond to any aggression against Nato allies.

US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed that international monitors must be sent immediately to southern and eastern Ukraine.

Despite the passage of time, there are many parallels between the German Sudetenland and Crimean crises,writes Bobo Lo

Russia has signed a treaty to incorporate Crimea into its territory following a referendum in which residents of Ukraine’s region overwhelmingly backed the move.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has defended his country’s move to annex Crimea, saying that the rights of ethnic Russians have been abused by the Ukrainian government.

Leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia’s participation in the club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia’s incursion into Crimea, France’s foreign minister said today.

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has hailed Crimea’s vote to join Russia as a “happy event”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a draft Bill for the annexation of Crimea, one of a flurry of steps to formally take over the Black Sea peninsula.

Western opinion believes almost unanimously that Sunday’s referendum in Crimea was fixed, or at the very least that the result was achieved through intimidation, as vehemently as Russia insists it was a legitimate vote carried out in unquestionable, free circumstances.

The EU and US have imposed travel bans and asset freezes against a number of officials from Russia and Ukraine.

The EU has agreed to impose travel bans and asset freezes on 21 people linked to unrest in Ukraine.

Crimea’s parliament has declared the region an independent state after its residents voted to join Russia.

The US and its allies in Europe are expected to announce sanctions against Russia, including visa bans and potential asset freezes, a day after Crimea’s vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

Ukraine’s former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has urged Western powers to unite on a hard line against Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Crimea crisis.

What happens now to Ukrainian forces in Crimea is one of many unanswered questions, write Aleksandar Vasovic and Mike Collett-White.

Crimeans have voted overwhelmingly to split away from Ukraine and join Russia, it was announced tonight.

Washington and the international community won’t recognise the outcome of tomorrow’s referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine, US secretary of State John Kerry said after six hours of talks with Russia’s foreign minister.

US secretary of state John Kerry warned Russia that Washington and Europe were preparing a tough response to a breakaway vote in Ukraine’s Crimea, depending on how Moscow reacts.

A Russian military truck has broken down the gates of a Ukrainian base in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol and the installation is under siege by Russians, according to reports.

The crisis in Ukraine and Crimea has reached such a critical point that patience, but not appeasement, must be the order of the day.

Interpol has said it has received a request for an international arrest warrant to be issued for deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

We don’t yet know what Putin’s real agenda is generally with Ukraine and specifically with Crimea. But it echoes the murky events that eventually led to the first global war, writes James G Neuger

Russia has insisted troops that have streamed into Ukraine are protecting Russian citizens living there.

WE have all seen the vicious clashes between some of the Ukrainian people and their former president.

Because Ukraine doesn’t have full member status in Nato, the US and Europe are not obliged to help, says Julie Pace