The President of Russia Vladimir Putin proposed an appeal ‘On using the Military Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine’ to the Council of Federation. On the same day, having gathered for an extraordinary session, the Council of Federation unanimously adopted the resolution ‘On using the Military Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine’ according to which the President was given a right to use Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine ‘until the socio-political situation in the country was normalised’.

The date of the referendum on the status of the Crimea was advanced from 25 May to 10 March. In Donetsk from 7,000 to 10,000 people came to an anti-government pro-Russian meeting. They stormed and seized the building of the RSA. There were also clashes between Euromaidan supporters and pro-Russian protesters. The Russian flag was raised in front of the building of the RSA. Participants of the pro-Russian meeting chanted ‘Russia’ and ‘Glory to the Berkut’. At the meeting there was adopted a resolution on electing Pavel Gubarev, the leader of the People’s Militia of Donbass, as the Head of the Regional State Administration and the “People’s” governor of Donetsk and on holding a referendum of the fate of the Donetsk region. The Mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko came out to the protesters and said that the session of the Donetsk regional council had agreed with the protesters’ demands. In Lugansk there was held a meeting against the new Ukrainian authorities in which about 10,000 people participated. The Russian flag was raised on the building of the RSA. Meanwhile the Lugansk regional organisation of the Svoboda party demanded that the SSU and the IAM should bring the organisers of the meeting to account. In Kramatorsk a meeting gathered more than 2,000 people. The protesters demanded refusing to recognise the government of Ukraine and leaving all taxes in the budget of the Donetsk region. The main demands of the participants of the action included recognising the Supreme Rada and the new Cabinet of Ministers as illegitimate and convening an extraordinary session of the Kramatorsk City Council which should take a decision about holding a referendum on joining the Donetsk region to Russia. One of the largest meetings in the Donetsk region took place in Gorlovka. From 3,000 to 5,000 people participated in it. The demonstrators protested against the government, having recognised it as illegitimate, criticised the Mayor and came out with an idea of holding the referendum on federalisation of the country. Meetings against the government of Ukraine also took place in Enakievo, Shakhtyorsk, Artyomovsk, Konstantinovka, Alcheevsk, Antratsyt, Sverdlovsk, Krasnodon, Severodonetsk, Krasny Luch, Kirovsk, Popasnaya and Stakhanov. In the majority of the towns the number of the participants of street actions varied from 2,000 to 5,000 people. The main demands of their participants included holding the referendum on federalisation of Ukraine, refusing integration with the European Union, removing the illegitimate authorities of Ukraine, maintaining ally relations with Russia and giving Russian a status of the other state language. In Pavlograd about 200 people came out to a meeting. A column of the demonstrators with carnations and St George ribbons came to the Sobornaya square, shouting ‘Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, they are the holy Rus!’. The march was headed by the Chairman of the non-government organisation Russian Union of Donbass Vladimir Bogatyryov. Participants of the meeting ‘For Kharkov’ stormed the building of the RSA seized by Euromaidan supporters and set the Russian flag on its roof. The Mayor of Kharkov Genady Kernes called on the participants of the meeting several times not to yield to provocations of the Euromaidan supporters as, according to him, in the building there were armed people but no one listened to him. It was the police that were taking the Maidan activists out of the building of the RSA. During the storm 97 persons were injured. Most of them had bruises but two persons got wounds from traumatic guns. The residents of Kharkov wanted to lynch the captured Euromaidan supporters; they dragged them to the stage of the meeting, made them kneel and apologise, beat them. A part of the participants of the meeting called on the others ‘not to behave like Euromaidan supporters’. The interim prosecutor of the Kharkov region Vladimir Sukhodubov who came to the Freedom square also tried to calm the people down and asked them not to lynch the captured activists. The Euromaidan supporters and members of the Maidan Self-Defence who were hurt were taken away in ambulances, the others were rescued by the police. In Odessa at the People’s Veche organised by activists of the People’s Alternative, the Resistance and the Youth Unity Anton Davidchenko read a list of demands of participants of the meeting addressed to the central and city authorities: The status of Russian as the other state language The administrative-territorial reform, i.e. federalisation The preservation of monuments of the historical and cultural heritage and criminal responsibility for their damage and destruction The use of 70% of the local budget for the city’s needs The solution of all fateful internal and foreign matters through referendums The electiveness of governors and judges The elections of the Regional and City Councils The flag of Odessa was raised above the Trade Unions House and flags of Odessa, Russia and Ukraine were raised near the building. About 7,000 residents of Odessa took part in the meeting. In Krivoy Rog 300 people gathered near the Town Hall under Russian flags. They demanded the referendum on federalisation. In Nikolaev there was held an antifascist meeting against the new authorities in which more than 5,000 people took part. The participants of the meeting marched with St George ribbons, under flags of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Nikolaev and honoured the memory of the fallen soldiers of the Berkut with a minute of silence. Pro-Russian activists set up tents in front of the building of the RSA. In Kherson more than 400 people gathered at a meeting, outraged by ‘riots and lawlessness that flooded streets of the city’, actions of extremist groups, paralysis of the state apparatus and total anarchy. They drew up a list of demands including disarming the Right Sector and the Self-Defence, the status of Russian as a regional language, refusal to recognise the change of power in Ukraine and a union of Ukraine with Russia and Belarus. At the same time Euromaidan supporters came to the square in front of the Kherson RSA to hold a meeting in support of the unity of Ukraine. However, it didn’t come to physical contact between opponents as the organisers of the pro-Russian meeting called on its participants to stop a war of words and go off in order to prevent provocations. The speaker of the Crimean parliament announced that representatives of pro-Russian organisations of Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa expressed a desire to join the Crimea when its powers as the autonomy were expanded. In Dnepropetrovsk 3-4 thousands of people gathered at an antifascist meeting in front of the Opera House. There were calls to a union of Ukraine with Russia and Kazakhstan. After the official part of the meeting was over several thousands of people went to the Maidan Heroes square in the city centre to wash the pedestal of the destroyed Lenin monument from inscriptions left by Euromaidan activists. All funeral paraphernalia - photos of the “Sky hundred”, candles and flowers - was decided to be left intact. Chanting ‘The Lenin square!’ (that had been the name of the square before the end of February) the demonstrators tore off the newly installed nameplate ‘The Maidan Heroes square’, women pulled down a tent where Maidan activists were keeping guard and despite calls of the speaker of the meeting several men tried to destroy the improvised memorial of the “Sky hundred”. At the building of the City Hall there were raised flags of Russia and USSR near the flag of Ukraine. At the same time supporters of Euromaidan, the Right Sector, the Svoboda party and the UDAR party held an alternative meeting at the building of the Dnepropetrovsk RSA. In Kakhovka about 50 people came to a meeting. Members of the military-historical club Kakhovka and the CPU and other residents gathered to protest against the new government. In Zaporozhye at the Lenin monument there was held a many thousand meeting that adopted a manifest demanding the refusal to obey the illegitimate ‘impostor government’, the recognition of laws adopted by violations as unconstitutional ones, the ban on fascist ideology and parties-bearers of this ideology, disarming militant groups, the end of persecution of soldiers and officers of the Berkut and the police, the status of Russian as the other national language and the referendum on status of Zaporozhye. In Melitopol several thousands of people gathered for a march in support of the Crimea and the South-East of Ukraine. People marched with slogans like ‘We are with Russia and Belarus’, ‘The Berkut are heroes’, ‘We don’t obey the new authorities’, ‘We are for the Customs Union’. The participants of the march set up three flags - of Ukraine, Russia and St George - on the building of the City Council. In Berdyansk there were held meetings of opponents and supporters of the new authorities; there came many more opponents than supporters. There were no incidents at both meetings.

Alexander Turchinov changed the Head of the Dnepropetrovsk region; he dismissed Dmitry Kolesnikov and appointed the Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoysky to this post. Alexander Turchinov appointed Michael Bolotskykh the new Head of the Lugansk region instead of Vladimir Pristyuk. Alexander Turchinov dismissed Andrey Shishtsky from the post of the governor of the Donetsk region and appointed the businessman Sergey Taruta to this post. Pavel Gubarev was attacked in Donetsk at night.

In Lugansk at the building of the Regional Council there was held another meeting participants of which urged the deputies to adopt a resolution about non-recognition of the new authorities as well as about a ban on political parties and non-governmental pro-fascist and neo-Nazi organisations violating the legislation of Ukraine, such as the UNA-UNSD, the Svoboda, the SNA, the Right Sector, the Trident, the Patriot of Ukraine, the White Hammer and others. Under the pressure of protesters storming the building of the RSA the deputies adopted a resolution with a number of demands to the Supreme Rada, namely giving Russian the status of the other state language, holding the referendum on a federal structure of Ukraine, stopping the harassment of former members of the special forces Berkut, a ban on pro-fascist organisations. In case of non-compliance the deputies reserved the right to ask ‘brotherly Russia’ for help. The deputies also demanded for the social guarantees not to be reduced and tariffs not to be increased and for the Russian TV channels not to be banned on the territory of Ukraine. The Regional Council recognised ‘the central executive authorities formed by the Supreme Rada with violations of the law’ as illegitimate and demanded that the Supreme Rada ‘restore the law’. In Kramatorsk another meeting gathered more than 2,000 people. The protesters demanded for the government not to be recognised and for all taxes to be left in the budget of the Donetsk region. The main demands of the participants of the meeting were to recognise the Supreme Rada and the new Cabinet of Ministers illegitimate and to convene an extraordinary session of the Kramatorsk Town Counsil in order to take a decision on holding the referendum on the Donetsk region joining Russia. In Kharkov at the Taras Shevchenko monument from 500 to 1,000 people took part in a meeting for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The people came there with state flags of Ukraine and banners like ‘No to Malorossia’ and ‘Kharkov is Ukraine’. In Nikolaev in response to a pro-Russian meeting held the day before there was held a meeting ‘Ukraine united and indivisible’ which gathered about 5,000 people. On the same day opponents of the new authorities blocked the entrance to the city and several platforms carrying tanks and approaching the city had to turn away from it. In Zaporozhye near the RSA there was held a many thousand meeting without party symbols participants of which spoke against troops of the Russian Federation entering the territory of Ukraine, blood shedding and splitting Ukraine.

Alexander Turchinov appointed new governors in three more regions of Ukraine: Odessa, Chernigov and Zaporozhye ones. In Odessa region there were changed the Heads of the Regional Administration and the police forces.

In Donetsk about 1,500 people came out for a meeting against the appointment of Taruta as the governor. Representatives of pro-Russian protesters spoke at the session of the Regional Council and demanded recognition of the acting central authorities as illegitimate ones. Signatures for the referendum on a status of Donbass started to be collected. After the Regional Council refused to recognise the “People’s governor” Pavel Gubarev participants of another pro-Russian meeting seized the building of the Donetsk RSA. At the same time some of these protesters attacked the ex-Head of the Donetsk RSA Andrey Shishatsy. The local police refused to support those protesters. At his press conference Pavel Gubarev announced questions for the Donetsk referendum, namely about the future state structure, about elections of the governor of the Donetsk region and about the future state language on the territory of the region. Gubarev himself was for the accession of the Donetsk region into the Russian Federation and considered the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops as security means for the South-Eastern Ukraine. Later Sergey Taruta said that as far as he knew at that time more than two thirds of Donetsk residents were for joining Russia. At the building of the Odessa RSA where the Regional Council gathered for an extraordinary session there occurred a many-hour confrontation between opponents and supporters of Euromaidan. Its opponents insisted on the regional deputies hearing out and discussing demands addressed to the central and city authorities and adopted at the People’s Veche of 1 March. These demands were passed to the deputies by Anton Davidchenko. In particular, the document proposed the Regional Council to assume full authority and responsibility, to take all law enforcement agencies under its control and form, on the base of the dismissed Berkut, a police unit subordinate only to the Odessa Regional Council. There was a moment when people gathered at the building of the RSA and dissatisfied at the deputies’ refusal to hear out their demands broke through into the building. The activists of the People’s Alternative called on city residents to join the action. At the same time the Odessa Right Sector called up its activists as well. The pro-Russian protesters blocked the exits of the RSA and refused to let the deputies out until the latter accepted their demands. The flag of Ukraine on a flagpole in front of the building of the RSA was taken down and instead of it, near the flag of Odessa, there was raised the Russian flag. The situation was getting hot; about 150 Maidan supporters equipped for an armed confrontation gathered at the building of the RSA. By 4 pm about 100 policemen arrived at the building of the RSA; they stood between the warring parties. Some time later there arrived some more trucks with the policemen. By the evening the officials finally agreed to consider the protesters’ demands and started negotiations with an initiative group. Two meetings were separated by two groups of the policemen, the latter also guarded the entrance to the RSA. Euromaidan supporters with clubs lined up along Shevchenko Avenue. At 7 pm Anton Davidchenko came out to the protesters and journalists and announced that the initiative group had managed to come to an agreement on some points with the authorities. They agreed to support the initiative to hold a referendum and carry out an administrative-territorial reform. Odessa Euromaidan supporters demanded for Anton Davidchenko, the leader of the Youth Unity and the People’s Alternative, to be arrested.

In Kharkov on the Freedom square, at the building of the Kharkov RSA there was held a pro-Russian meeting that gathered from 1,000 to 5,000 people. The protesters demanded the referendum and the resignation of the new governor of the region Igor Baluta. The police of Donetsk chased the protesters out of the building of the RSA under the pretext of alleged bomb threat. On the same day at 4 pm pro-Russian activists whose number varied from 1,000 to 15,000 people depending on mass media source gathered again to a meeting in front of the RSA, seized it again as well as the buildings of the State Treasury and the TV and Radio Company Donbass. There were some clashes during which 7 persons needed medical aid and one was taken to hospital. Gubarev decided to suspend the work of the State Treasury to stop money transfers to the Ukrainian Treasury but the interim Head of it refused to meet his demands. At the same time pro-Russian activists attacked participants of the meeting ‘For united Ukraine’. The Ukrainian mass media reported that that there were 5,000 supporters of the new Ukrainian authorities and only 1,000 opponents of it but the latter managed to disperse the meeting of the former and beat them. The police of Donetsk called the behaviour of the pro-Russian activists in the building of the RSA ‘open vandalism’. In Lugansk there was held another many thousand meeting where Alexander Kharitonov was elected the “People’s governor of the Lugansk region”; he proposed to elect their own government, the People’s Council of the Lugansk region. There was also taken a decision to hold, according to the law about local referendums, the people’s referendum on federalisation on 30 March 2014. In Pavlograd about 100 people took part in a meeting for federalisation. In Nikolaev there were held meetings for both federalisation and preservation of integrity of Ukraine; each gathered up to 1,000 people. According to the Article 110, part 2, of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) the Regional Prosecutor Office opened a case against distributors of leaflets about the meeting for federalisation. In Dnepropetrovsk two meetings, a pro-Russian one and that of Euromaidan supporters, took place at the same time. In Zaporozhye about 1,000 people gathered at an anti-government pro-Russian meeting. The participants announced that they didn’t recognise the new authorities, demanded for the ex-governor Peklushenko to return and considered Yanukovich the legal President. The call of the Mayor Sin to stop the meeting under the pretext that it wasn’t ‘authorised’ was met with outrage. People shouted ‘Russia’ and ‘Referendum’; there were several flags of the countries-members of the Customs Union. After the meeting Igor Artyushenko, a Maidan supporter and the Cnairman of the Zaporozhye Regional public-political union Ukrainian Cause, filed an application to the SSU with a demand to open proceedings according to the Article 110, Part 2, of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In Melitopol about 100 people gathered to a small meeting. The participants discussed the matters of the foreign politics and the self-determination of the regions of Ukraine.

The date of the referendum on the status of the Crimea was forwarded from 30 to 16 March. In Donetsk at 6:45 am the police asked the protesters to vacate the buildings of the Treasury and the RSA; on the square in front of the RSA there were no more than 200 people. As a result, the police took the building of the Donetsk RSA again having detained about 70 activists. The same day in the evening the SSU and the special police forces managed to arrest Pavel Gubarev at a conspirator flat. The arrest followed the court decision within the open criminal proceedings according to the Articles “Encroachment of the territorial integrity of Ukraine”, “Actions aimed at forcible change or overthrowing constitutional order” and “Seizure of state or public buildings or constructions”. At the moment of arrest Gubarev was giving an interview to BBC correspondents. Later the SSU reported that the Kiev Shevchenkovsky regional court had arrested Gubarev for two months. At the building of the Odessa RSA there was held a meeting of Euromaidan opponents. The representative of the Motherland party Grigory Kvasnyuk called on those gathered there to avoid unnecessary violence and wait for the results of the Crimean referendum after which Odessa would be able to come up with the same demands. The MP Igor Markov called to struggle for decentralisation exclusively in a peaceful way. The meeting was attended by about 2,000 people.

The soldiers of the Donetsk Berkut refused to carry out the order to disperse protesters against the appointment of Sergey Taruta as the Head of the Regional Administartion and for liberation of Pavel Gubarev, the arrested “People’s governor of the Donetsk region. The authorities of Ukraine didn’t let camera crews of the Russian TV channels Russia-1, NTV and TVC come to Donetsk. After an interview at the airport of the city the camera crews were made to board a plane and return to Moscow. On the way from Zaporozhye to Moscow there was kidnapped Vladimir Rogov, one of the coordinators of the groups of support of the Berkut, the leader of the Slavic Guard and an organiser of the March of Polite Zaporozhye people fixed for 8 March. After several days of being kept and interrogated at an unknown place he was brought to a forest at the border with the RF which he crossed on foot and on his own. According to him, he was saved by the fact that he had gotten to the hands of a state institution and not of right radicals.

In Donetsk about 2,000 people came to a pro-Russian meeting. In Mariupol there was held a meeting and a demonstration against the new Ukrainian authorities, organised by the local department of the CPU. Participants of the actions, as well as in other cities and towns of the South-East of Ukraine, refused to consider the government of the country legitimate. The main slogans of the meeting and the demonstration were ‘The South-East, rise!’, ‘Russia!’, ‘Referendum!’ and ‘Fascism won’t pass!’. The protesters also stood for liberation of Pavel Gubarev, arrested by the SSU; they were chanting ‘Gubarev!’. About 5,000 people took part in the actions. In Kramatorsk there was held another meeting. Its participants were chanting ‘Russia!’, ‘Fascism won’t pass!’ and ‘Kramatorsk is for Gubarev!’. There were made statements about illegitimacy of the Ukrainian government and necessity of holding the referendum on accession of the Donetsk region to Russia. In Gorlovka there was held another meeting during which the government of Ukraine was called nothing else but “a gang” and there were made statements about necessity of holding the referendum on accession of Donbass to Russia. Residents of the town didn’t let journalists of the local mass media make a report about an action in support of united Ukraine, which was taking place nearby. The participants of the action announced their intention to take part in the meeting in Donetsk on 9 March. In Kharkov another meeting gathered, by different assessment, from 2,000 to 15,000 activists with flags of Ukraine and Russia. The demonstrators demanded the status of autonomy for the Kharkov region and resignation of the Ukrainian authorities. At the meeting near the Lenin monument it was decided to hold a referendum-Veche on 16 March, with the only question about federalisation of Ukraine. According to the member of the executive committee of the union Veche Kharkov, they were going to prepare bulletins which people would be able to vote with and fill in, at will, with their names, surnames and contact phone numbers. On the square there would be placed ballot boxes where the bulletins could be cast. In the evening of the same day about ten radicals of the Right Sector attacked the activists of the meeting. Several people were beaten with metal rods and baseball clubs, three of them got gunshot wounds. In Zaporozhye about 300 residents of the city came out to the March of Polite Zaporozhye people.

In Kiev there was a firefight between Maidan supporters; the IAM reported two persons injured. According to a doctor who was there, it was a chemical laboratory where grenades were produced that was attacked. Since that time firefights on Maidan and in its vicinities took place on the regular basis.

In Lugansk there was held a meeting which gathered about 3,000 people under Russian flags and with demands of holding the referendum on self-determination of the Lugansk region. The building of the RSA was seized and the Russian flag was raised on it. The governor Michael Bolotskykh appointed by the Ukrainian authorities was made to write a letter of resignation. By the evening the number of the protesters reached 10,000 people. The meeting in Mariupol gathered again but there were fewer people at it. The protesters repeated their statement about non-recognition of legitimacy of the new Kiev authorities and took a decision to continue the protest at the Town Hall on 10 March. In Odessa on the Kulikovo Pole there was held another meeting which gathered up to 10,000 people. The Odessa people came out with flags of Odessa and Russia. Making a speech before those gathered there the leader of the People’s Alternative Anton Davidchenko listed again demands of participants of actions on the Kulikovo Pole, namely the referendum on the centralisation of the power in the country, the state status for Russian, lustration of the authorities etc. According to him, for the following week the activists were going to focus on collecting signatures for the referendum. A representative of the Crimea also made a speech at the meeting; he called on the Odessa people to form units of self-defence and said that the Crimea was ready to grant asylum for all those who would become a victim of political repressions of the Ukrainian authorities. The deputy of the Odessa City Council from the Motherland party Grigory Kvasnyuk said that the Crimean situation appeared as a result of the Ukrainian authorities not having paid attention to problems of the Crimea and having denied needs of the Russian population of the peninsula for many years. ‘We are ready to keep the country united but this unity should remain intact on our conditions!’, said Kvasnyuk. His colleague Sergey Bovbalan read a bill ‘On overcoming the consequences of the Soviet occupation’ that had been introduced to the Supreme Rada and according to which in Ukraine there should be eliminated all monuments to public figures of the Soviet regime and all streets named to honour them should be renamed. A representative of the Lugansk region said that the regions of the South-East should coordinate their actions and fight together to protect their rights. Several thousands of Odessa Euromaidan supporters also held their usual Sunday meeting at the Duke monument. They held banners calling to chase Putin away from Ukraine. The demonstrators were chanting ‘Odessa isn’t Russia!’ and traditional ‘Glory to heroes!’. In Nikolaev at the monument to the Olshantsy Heroes there was held another meeting against the government of Ukraine. In Dnepropetrovsk there was held another meeting under a general slogan ‘The power to the people’. It was organised by the Union of Soviet Officers, the CPU and the Russian Block party. About 2,000 people gathered there. After the meeting its participants walked along the central avenue of the city in the Antifascist March. The SSU opened the criminal proceedings against activists of Dnepropetrovsk who were spreading the ideas of separatism in social networks. One of the suspects ‘called the acting authorities fascist and called on the mass media to support the desire of Ukrainians to join Russia’ on an anonymous page. From the suspects there were taken computers and ‘agitation and propaganda materials of destructive nature’. In Zaporozhye there was held a meeting in support of friendship between Ukraine and Russia. Among its demands there was that of holding the referendum, dissolving the Supreme Rada and adopting the law on the status of Russian as the other state language. In Melitopol protesters against the new authorities under Russian and Ukrainian flags discussed the matters of holding the referendum. Some of them stated the necessity of a referendum on federalisation, the others spoke about entering the European Union or the Customs Union.

The MP Oleg Lyashko came to Lugansk and kidnapped one of the organisers of pro-Russian protests, the leaders of the Young Guard organisation, the deputy of the Lugansk Regional Council Arsen Klinchaev. Lyashko and his followers immobilised Klinchaev, handcuffed him and made him address to those who had seized the Lugansk RSA with a demand to vacate the building. By the evening Klinchaev was released and promised Lyashko that the next time he would be shot in the forehead. In Mariupol there was organised an auto-rally with Russian flags as a symbol of friendly relations with the neighbour country. The auto-rally had for a purpose a protest against repressions and for liberation of the “People’s governor” of Donbass Pavel Gubarev. In Kharkov there was held a meeting of Euromaidan supporters in which Vitaly Klitschko took part. Antimaidan supporters lined behind the stage where Klitschko was making a speech; they were chanting ‘Russia!’ and ‘Fascism won’t pass!’ and then threw eggs and firecrackers at Klitschko. Non-governmental organisations addressed to the Kharkov Regional Council with a memorandum in which they demanded convening an extraordinary session to call the referendum on federative structure and the state language but the Regional Council refused to do it referring to the Article 72 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The Kharkov City Council decided to appeal to the court in order to restrict the right of citizens to hold public events in the city. In Odessa the SSU started interrogating the most active participants of the protest actions on the Kulikovo Pole as witnesses within the proceedings according to the Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (‘Encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine’). Such subpoenas were sent to the deputy of the City Council from the Motherland party Alexander Vasilyev, the deputy of the Regional Council Alexey Albu and the leader of the Youth Unity Anton Davidchenko. Several hundreds of people organised a picket at the building of the SSU in Evreyskaya St, demanding to stop persecutions of the Russian Spring leaders.

Based on the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and other international documents recognising the right of peoples to self-determination as well as decisions of the International Court of Justice that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not violate international law, the Supreme Council of the Autonomic Republic Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Crimea. In Lugansk the SSU arrested and brought to jail Klinchaev. According to the SSU, he, together with a group of 500 followers, planned to seize the Regional Offices of the SSU, IAM and State Treasury in Lugansk.

In Lugansk the SSU arrested the “People’s governor” Alexander Kharitonov. In Donetsk during the day there was being held a meeting of pro-Russian residents. People were holding Russian flags and banners against political repressions and joining the NATO and the EU. About 6 pm a meeting for united Ukraine started; most of participants weren’t local people. There was a clash between the meetings during which 50 people were injured and 2 were killed. The activists of the pro-Russian meeting and the activists of the Right Sector who attended the meeting for united Ukraine were armed with traumatic weapons, pepper sprays, clubs and metal rods. One of the dead turned out to be a member of the Svoboda party; according to numerous photos and videos from the spot, he was killed by Maidan supporters themselves. Thus, the Kiev authorities resorted to the tactics of sacrifices in order to discredit protests and expand repressions.

The FAM of the RF made a statement on the confrontation in Donetsk. It said that the Ukrainian authorities didn’t control the situation in Ukraine and Russia was ready to take its compatriots in Ukraine under protection. On the same day the FAM of Ukraine called the statement of the Russian Federation on the tragedy in Donetsk ‘cynical and irresponsible’ and urged the Russian Federation again to stop escalating tension and organising riots in Ukraine and return into the international legal framework, in particular, strictly adhere to the requirements of the UN Charter that prohibits to interfere into internal affairs of other states. In the evening activists of the Right Sector attacked participants of an Antimaidan meeting on the Freedom Square in Kharkov. The attackers were chased and the conflict moved to the office of the organisation Patriot of Ukraine in Rymarskaya St,18 where the minivan with the attackers stopped. It was supposedly the same minivan by which radicals who had beaten Antimaidan supporters on 8 March had escaped from the spot. The attackers barricaded themselves in the building; both sides of the confrontation were throwing Molotov cocktails; there is evidence that the Right Sector used stun grenades agains Kharkov people. During the confrontation the Right Sector captured three hostages. Later from the building in Rymarskaya St there was opened gunfire resulted in the death of two activists of Antimaidan, members of the People’s Militia Artyom Zhudov from Kharkov and Alexy Sharov from Dnepropetrovsk; five more people were injured, including a police officer. The Mayor Genady Kernes came to negotiate. The barricaded radicals demanded to be allowed to freely leave for Poltava. The radicals were headed by Andrey Biletsky, the leader of the movement Patriot of Ukraine, who had earlier been under investigation as a suspect in the beating and attempted murder of a Kharkov journalist but then, in the end of February, had been rehabilitated as a political prisoner. The Ukrainian mass media reported that residents of the Kherson region had united in militia units ‘to patrol streets and fight Russian occupants’, built a checkpoint near the Kakhovskaya hydro-power station to protect a strategic object from provocation until the military came. The mass media also insisted that it was only pensioners and aggressive youth who ‘had been paid to attend Antimaidan’ who experienced ‘separatist sentiments’.

In Donetsk ten thousand meeting that started as a rally in support of the Crimean referendum blocked the building of the SSU demanding to liberate Pavel Gubarev and other 70 people arrested for participating in pro-Russian protests. The Head of the SSU promised to liberate the arrested. In Melitopol people gathered at an antifascist meeting at which there were being collected signatures for the referendum on the non-aligned status of Ukraine and its joining the Customs Union. In Kharkov the police arrested 38 participants of the confrontation and taken 3 hunting riffles and 3 shotguns from both sides of it. Due to the past events, the investigating authorities opened criminal proceedings; the court sentenced 25 people to administrative detention, they were brought to jail.

In the Crimea there was held the referendum on the status of the peninsula, which proposed the population of the Crimea to answer the question about its secession from Ukraine and accession to Russia. On the territory of the Autonomic Republic of Crimea 96.77% of those who voted chose the first option in the bulletin ‘For accession of the Crimea to Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation’; in Sevastopol their number was 95.6% with the turnout at the referendum 81.37% and 89.51% respectively. In Odessa there was held a many thousand meeting and a march in which, according to different sources, from 5,000 to 10,000 people took part, for the referendum on federalisation of Ukraine. The demonstrators were carrying symbols of Russia, Ukraine and the Crimea. In Donetsk about 3,000 people gathered at a pro-Russian meeting. In Melitopol a meeting of opponents of the new Authorities gathered more than 1,000 people. In Nikolaev there was held a “people’s referendum” at which people were proposed to vote for or against the federative structure of Ukraine and the Nikolaev region entering the federal district Novorossia. 5,700 people voted for it and 17 voted against it. In Dnepropetrovsk there were arrested several people who ‘planned to make separatist provocative actions’. In Kharkov pro-Russian activists rioted in the building in Rymarskaya St, in the office of three nationalistic organisations: the Right Sector, the Prosvita and the Patriot of Ukraine. The police didn’t intervene.

Based on the results of the referendum and the Declaration of Independence there was unilaterally proclaimed the sovereign Republic of Crimea that included Sevastopol as a city with the special status and there was adopted an appeal to Russia with a request to include the Republic into the Russian Federation. Near Volnovakha, a town in the Donetsk region, local residents tried to block the way of Ukrainian tanks but the latter broke through having barely avoided running over the people blocking the road. Local residents organised picketing military units and bridges leading towards the Russian-Ukrainian border. According to them, their actions were caused by their unwillingness to have a war on their territory and fears that local border guards would be replaced by nationalists. The governor of the Donetsk region Taruta informed that his brother and him had paid for digging a 4-metre ditch along the regional part of the Russian-Ukrainian border. In Odessa the leader of the People’s Alternative and the Youth Unity Anton Davidchenko was arrested when he was leaving his office. Later he was charged with encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine (the Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

There was signed the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia, according to which in Russia there were created new subjects: the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

In Donetsk the SSU arrested one of the leaders of the public organisation Donetsk Republic Andrey Purgin. In the village of Paraskovievka of the Artyomavsk region the residents blocked the entrance to the military warehouse situated at one of the mines. They stopped official vehicles from leaving and set a clock duty near the arsenal under Russian flags to prevent capturing or exporting arms and ammunition. The Strelkovsky Village Council of the Kherson region took a decision to move a Ukrainian checkpoint from the south of the village to the north, having de-facto acceded the village to the Crimea. On the same day the decision of the Village Council was cancelled in Genichevsk and the prosecutor office of the Kherson region opened criminal proceedings on the fact of the illegal decision of the Village Council.

The Ukrainian State Border Service at the airport in Donetsk didn’t let four journalists from Russia come to Ukraine; Alexander Buzaladze, a correspondent of the TV channel Russia-1, and Alexy Khudyakov, a journalist of the today.ru, were deported from the country. The passport of the former was stamped with the prohibition of entry into Ukraine for 3 years. In Odessa there were rumours about Valery Kaurov, the Chairman of the Union of Orthodox citizens of Ukraine, the Chairman of the organisation United Motherland and the Head of the Odessa regional department of the Russian Block party, having been arrested by the SSU. The next day it turned out that he had only been called to the SSU where he had been officially warned about responsibility for separatist statements and calls.

In Donetsk 5,000 people demanded the liberation of Gubarev and the referendum on the status of the region, similar to the Crimean one, as well as the return of Yanukovich as the legitimate President. In Mariupol and Makeevka there were held meetings the participants of which called on Yanukovich to return to power. In Lugansk there was also held a mass meeting. The people there were holding banners ‘Yanukovich is our President’, ‘We are not titushki; we are the people’ and ‘No to racism’. In Dnepropetrovsk about 1,000 people came out to a meeting against the new authorities. For symbols they used St George ribbons, Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian flags. They protested against fascism, unjust arrests and for the referendum on federalisation. In Kharkov at another meeting people demanded broad autonomy for the South-East region.

In Donetsk 5,000 people demanded the liberation of Gubarev, the referendum and the governor’s resignation. In Nikolaev there was held a meeting in support of the Crimea and Sevastopol. Those speaking there criticised the information war against Russia and the Crimea and encouraged the local authorities to establish links between communities of Nikolaev and Sevastopol. In Zaporozhye several dozens of the Maidan Self-Defence members armed with hammers, axes, sapper blades, stones, metal rods, sticks and bottles attacked Melitopol residents who were holding an auto-rally of Friendship with Russian flags. Several people were injured and about 10 cars were smashed. On the same day about 3,000 people gathered at a meeting of the South-Eastern Front. One of its organisers Artyom Timchenko announced a collection of signatures on a petition addressed to Victor Yanukovich and demanding his return to Ukraine; there was also a proposal to rename one of the streets of the city in honour of a killed Berkut soldier. In Odessa 8-9 thousands of people gathered at an antifascist meeting where they demanded to stop persecuting political opponents and liberate the leader of antifascists Anton Davidchenko; the protesters addressed to Yanukovich as the legitimate President.

In Mariupol there was held a demonstration against the new autorities’ policy and for the referendum. In Lugansk some strangers attacked the tent camp of Antimaidan. The camp was destroyed, the activists of the Lugansk Guard were beaten and some people even got to hospital.

In Donetsk thousands of people took part in a meeting for the referendum on the status of Donbass. In Lugansk in the city centre there was held a mass pro-Russian meeting where more than 2,000 people gathered. The protesters marched with flags of the Russian Federation and banners ‘Ukraine is Rus’, ‘Europe is Sodom and Gomorra’, ‘Russian is a state language’ and chanted “Lugansk, rise!’, ‘Russia!’, ‘Ukraine is Russia!’ on their way. The people came from different parts of the city; according to the organisers, it gave a real idea of the number of supporters of the federalisation of the country and Ukraine joining Russia in Lugansk. The demonstrators also urged deputies of all levels to recognise the new Ukrainian authorities and the governor of the Lugansk region illegitimate, opposed decreasing social standards and demanded the liberation of Arsen Klinchaev and Alexander Kharitonov. In Dnepropetrovsk there was also held a pro-Russian meeting that also honoured killed policemen as it was 40 days since their death. There were announced the demands to hold the referendum on such matters as expanding powers of the local councils, converging with the Russian Federation and Ukraine’s entering the Customs Union. In Zaporozhye there was held an Antimaidan meeting and a march. The protesters called to boycott the forthcoming early elections; there were sounded slogans like ‘Fascism won’t pass!’, ‘Junta, go away!’, ‘Zaporozhye! Crimea! Russia!’ and ‘Referendum!’. In Nikolaev there was held the traditional Antimaidan meeting aimed at the federalisation of the country and economic co-operation with Russia. In Odessa there was held a pro-Russian meeting at which from 2,500 to 20,000 people took part. The organisers announced the creation of the regional territorial community which was to control the local authorities. The participants protested against usurping the power in Ukraine and political repressions and demanded to liberate arrested Anton Davidchenko and stop persecuting other activists accused of separatism. At the same time on the Primorsky Boulevard Euromaidan supporters were holding their own meeting at which up to 5,000 people gathered (the organisers of the meeting estimated the number of participants as 20,000 people). During the meeting the participants burnt St George ribbons in the Eternal Fire. The federalisation supporters organised a rally in the streets of Odessa, including the Primorsky Boulevard, where at the Duke monument there happened a clash between them and representatives of the local Right Sector, which ended without grave traumas for participants who limited themselves with throwing eggs at each other. In Kharkov several thousands of people gathered at a rally under the slogan of creating an autonomy out of eight South-Eastern regions of Ukraine. They demanded to release Ignat Kramskoy who was detained on charges of ‘organising mass riots’ due to his participation in vacating the Kharkov RSA from Maidan supporters on 1 March.