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

Russian forces have been accused of “an armed invasion” after units blocked a Ukrainian military airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea.

Dozens of armed men in military uniforms have seized an airport in Ukraine’s strategic Crimea region, it is reported.

WE have been here before.

 The Potter’s Hand

A startling headline in a newspaper yesterday announced that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Steven Pienaar, who scored Everton’s potentially season-shifting equaliser on Sunday. Harsh, but fair, I briefly thought, before realising it was for a speeding offence.

OPPOSITION lawmakers hurled eggs and smoke bombs inside Ukraine’s parliament yesterday as the chamber approved an agreement allowing the Russian navy to extend its stay in a Ukrainian port until 2042.

IT was the revolution that ended the Cold War. But there was not a shot fired.

Ninety years after he was executed, Tsar Nicholas II is leading a tight race to be named the greatest Russian in history.

The Hollywood writer behind Braveheart is penning another screenplay about a fictional love affair between Catherine the Great and a young Scotsman, it was reported today.