Vladimir Putin is channelling his inner Trotsky through his dealings and attitudes towards Ukraine. Surely a day of reckoning will soon come, writes Yuliya Tymoshenko

The Crimean parliament has voted that the Black Sea peninsula will declare itself an independent state if its residents agree to split off from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum.

The situation in Ukraine and Crimea is now fraught with danger. If violent conflict occurs the people of Ukraine and Crimea could once again suffer catastrophically, having suffered more than any other European country under Stalin and Hitler.

IN HIS 1979 novel The Island of Crimea, Vasily Aksyonov imagined the region’s flourishing independence from the Soviet Union.

Russian agents have foiled terror attack plans on the Black Sea resort of Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Games, and seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition, authorities say.

How much can Ireland really be expected to achieve as the newly appointed OSCE chair, asks Caroline O’Doherty

Nato has failed for a second day to find new ground-attack aircraft for the fight against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya but its top official said he expects the additional planes soon.

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday made an unannounced visit to Abkhazia, his first trip to the breakaway Georgian region since Moscow’s war with Tbilisi two years ago.

A bus crash in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia killed 11 people, including two children, and left 14 hurt today, a Russian news agency reported.

VOTERS in Georgia went to the polls in local elections yesterday in the first ballot since President Mikhail Saakashvili led the country into a disastrous war with neighbouring Russia nearly two years ago.

Voters in Georgia went to the polls in local elections today in the first ballot since President Mikhail Saakashvili led the country into a disastrous war with neighbouring Russia nearly two years ago.

The president of Georgia confirmed that his country seized a shipment of highly enriched uranium, and blamed Russia for creating the instability that allows nuclear smugglers to operate in the region.

The brief but bloody war between Georgia and Russia was started by an "unjustifiable" Georgian attack, an EU report found today.

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez said today his country has recognised the independence of the Georgian separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

A Russian official has warned Georgia that attempts to block ships from reaching a Moscow-aligned separatist region of Georgia could end in military intervention.

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev hailed his country’s victory in its war with Georgia a year ago, saying it showed the nation’s strength and boosted its role in the world.

Russia exercised its veto power in the UN Security Council and brought an end to the nearly 16-year-old observer mission monitoring a ceasefire between Georgia and its breakaway Abkhazia region.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticised Georgia in a rare public rebuke, vehemently denying a claim by its UN ambassador that he amended a report in response to “Russian blackmail”.

A teenage gunman who injured three people at a college in Greece before killing himself had warned of the attack hours earlier in an internet posting, police said today.

The US and Russia are to renew nuclear arms reduction talks.

Nato agreed to resume normal relations with Russia today, seven months after it froze ties in response to Moscow's invasion of Georgia.

A RUSSIAN probe yesterday alleged that Georgia committed genocide in its August conflict with Russia, the latest accusation in a bitter war of words between the two foes.

A team of international monitors is ending its 16-year mission in Georgia after Russia refused to allow an extension of the assignment in a dispute over two Kremlin-backed breakaway regions in the Caucasus nation.

STANDING in the middle of the country, the Caucus mountains in the background, with Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian checkpoints just a few hundred metres away made Georgia’s Rose Revolution seem like a mirage.

THERE are rat droppings on the stairs to the basement, wires hang from the broken ceiling lights and cardboard is taped in place where glass once filled the window frames, yet this is home to dozens of families who are happy to have found refuge from the conflict that raged around them.

THE Georgian government has used a visit by Foreign Minister Micheál Martin to officially thank Ireland for its humanitarian aid and political support following its conflict with Russia.

RUSSIA proved to be as difficult as ever for the European Union to come to terms with, and the EU proved to be as unreliable as usual when it comes to dealing with the great bear.

More than £2bn (€2.55bn) has been pledged for the rebuilding of war-ravaged areas of Georgia by the EU, US and other international donors.

THE first high-level talks between Russia and Georgia since their war broke down yesterday, but international sponsors said the negotiations had only hit a procedural snag and would resume next month.

Russian troops have pulled back from their positions outside Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia but held their ground in contested areas, setting the stage for more tension between the two countries that waged war in August.

Russian forces pulled back from positions inside Georgia today watched by European Union monitors and relieved locals.

Russian forces appear to have begun the final stage of a pull-out from positions inside Georgia near the breakaway South Ossetia region.

Russian forces will begin withdrawing from a buffer zone in Georgia tomorrow and be out within 24 hours.

Russian troops have started dismantling positions in the so-called security zones inside Georgia that they have occupied since the war in August, Georgian and EU officials said.

RUSSIAN forces yesterday removed their first checkpoint from Georgia near the rebel region of South Ossetia, an European Union monitoring mission and the Georgian government said.

EUROPEAN Union monitors, including four Irish personnel, began patrolling Georgian territory yesterday under a France- brokered peace deal, and Russian troops allowed some monitors into a buffer zone around South Ossetia, despite insisting earlier they would be blocked.

IRELAND’s World Cup group rivals Georgia will be permitted to stage two Group qualifiers next month in the nation’s capital Tbilisi.

Georgia claimed to have shot down a Russian drone aircraft over its territory near the breakaway province of South Ossetia today.

FIFA announced today that Georgia will be able to stage two World Cup qualifiers next month in the nation’s capital Tbilisi.

Only Russia and the “states” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will decide how many troops Moscow can keep on their soil, prime minister Vladimir Putin has said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today that the UK Government was in “full support of the territorial integrity” of Georgia.

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer arrived in Tbilisi to show support for the ex-Soviet state after its war with Russia.

Russian forces and their separatist militia allies are keeping international monitors out of South Ossetia, according to confidential documents today.

A senior Western diplomat says talks with Russia have collapsed on the sensitive issue of sending additional international monitors to keep tabs on South Ossetia and Abkhazia.