JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia-Ukraine Standoff Intensifies Over Captured Vessels; Kiev has troops on military alert and demands Moscow releases the ships and crew members” – Wall Street Journal/ Thomas Grove, Ann M. Simmons, Emre Peker, Georgi Kantchev

“Ukraine’s defense ministry put its troops on military alert … a day after Russian forces fired on and detained three Ukrainian naval vessels near the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a move that threatened to reignite tensions between Moscow and Kiev.  … Poroshenko has called for martial law – that could last for 60 days after being enacted and give the military and government more executive authority – to deal with the crisis. The nation’s parliament is meeting Monday to consider the measure. … Poroshenko, facing re-election in March, demanded Russia release the ships and its crew members amid the biggest confrontation between the two nations since Russia’s 2014 military intervention in Ukraine when Moscow annexed Crimea and supported an armed uprising in the country’s east. Russian authorities said 24 Ukrainian soldiers had been detained after the incident. …”

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