Russians warned on land-grab in Ukraine

President Barack Obama has warned Russia against further encroachment into Ukraine.

Mr Obama said further moves would be a bad choice for Russian president Vladimir Putin and insisted there is another path available to Moscow.

Mr Obama was speaking at a news conference in the Netherlands amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Hague. He said world leaders have created the framework for additional costs to be imposed on Russia if it moves further into Ukraine.

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The president said if Ukrainians had a choice they would seek to have a relationship with both Europe and Russia, adding it is not a zero-sum game.

Mr Obama also said the US did not recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

His comments came after politicians in Ukraine accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh as thousands of troops started withdrawing from the Crimean peninsula, now controlled by Russia.

Russia is accusing Ukrainian officials of barring crews of Russian commercial airlines from going outside their aircraft at Ukrainian airports.

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Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have been rising since Russian forces occupied Crimea and stayed there throughout the referendum last week where votes overwhelmingly supported Russia’s annexation of the strategic peninsula.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Ukrainian border guards have been barring cabin crews of Aeroflot, the state-controlled Russian airline, from leaving the aircraft.

The ministry said the decision violates international laws and ultimately “poses a threat to the safety of civil aviation” because the crews cannot rest properly.