Vladimir Putin

Olexandr Kirichenko, the chargé d'affaires of the Ukraine embassy in Serbia, told TV Nova that Ukraine is disappointed that Serbia had not taken a clear stance on the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

"West wants Serbia to join sanctions against Russia"

BELGRADE -- Western countries are asking from future PM Aleksandar Vučić that Serbia "joins the EU sanctions against Russia because of the crisis in the Crimea."

This is according to an article in Friday's edition of the Večernje Novosti daily.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has reached a new historic maximum of 82.3% in end-March, according to an independent pollster.

The majority of Russians believe the country is heading in the right direction, results of a sociological survey conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center showed, cited by Itar-Tass news agency.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russian speakers had been threatened in Crimea - and dismissed any analogy between Western intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and Russia’s recent takeover of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Cyprus wants to shield financial flows with Russia, where it’s the biggest foreign investor, as the US and the European Union ratchet up sanctions in response to President Vladimir Putin’s annexing Crimea from Ukraine.

Germany could be the EU member state to suffer the most from sanctions imposed on Russia.

Data in an article posted on German newspaper Die Welt's website suggests that economic measures against Russia would be dangerous not only for Germany's energy security, but also for its car industry and its retail.

Russia will keep its right to appropriately respond to EU sanctions, a spokesman announced on Saturday.

Aleksander Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, described EU's decisions to impose sanctions on Moscow as "detached from reality" and called on two sides to return back to "cooperation which meets their interests", RIA Novosti agency has reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the law ratifying the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation.

Adam Michnik is a Polish historian, intellectual, and former dissident. Currently, he is the editor-in-chief of Poland's leading newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza".

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that all the practicalities surrounding Crimea’s accession into the Russian Federation will be completed this week.