- Pentagon insists 'routine' deployment has nothing to do with Russia's effective seizure of Crimea
- Russian newspaper claims Viktor Yanukovych is in 'grave' condition after a heart attack in Moscow
- Vladimir Putin dismissed report earlier this week that Yanukovych had died
- SWAT teams boarded plane carrying Ukraine's new PM following 'terrorist threat'
- Speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament today said there will be no war between Russia and the Ukraine
- She also said Crimea's parliament has the right to hold a referendum on the region's future status
- French foreign minister has said second round of sanctions against Russia could follow if first do not succeed
An American warship arrived in the Black Sea south of Crimea today, as the row between the White House and the Kremlin over Ukraine descended into gun-boat diplomacy.
Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxton was seen heading north through Istanbul, Turkey, along the Bosphorous Strait, as Washington rushed to reassure allies over Russia's seizure of the peninsula.
The Crimean port of Sevastopol is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet, which includes 24 warships, two submarines and 16,000 sailors and marines.
Portentous skies hang overhead as the USS Truxtun sails through the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey, en route to the Black Sea earlier today, in a deployment the U.S. claimed had nothing to do with the Ukraine crisis
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun sets sail in the Dardanelles straits, on its way to the Black Sea today for what the U.S. military has described as a 'routine' deployment that was scheduled well before the crisis in Ukraine
The 'USS Truxtun' destroyer passes the Bosphorus Strait on Friday. Armed men at a checkpoint flying the Russian flag blocked OSCE observers from entering Ukraine's flashpoint Crimean peninsula for a second day on Friday, an AFP reporter said
The dramatic escalation came as the new Ukrainian prime minister's jet was boarded SWAT teams in Austria responding to a threatened terror attack.
Austria's Interior Ministry said the team boarded the plane following its scheduled landing in Vienna last night after it received a security warning from German flight controllers. Nothing out of the ordinary was found.
Mr Yatsenyuk, who was making his way home after addressing European Union leaders in Brussels, then took his scheduled connection to Kiev.
German flight control spokeswoman Kristina Kelek said the initial warning came from Belgian police and her agency had passed on the information to Austria.
It was a vague warning that 'there was possibly a terrorist attack planned', she said.
The USS Truxton's passage through the Bosphorous and into the flashpoint Black Sea region was a 'routine' deployment scheduled well before the current crisis erupted in Ukraine, U.S. military officials insisted.
But it came only a day after the Pentagon announced plans to station more U.S. fighter jets in the Baltics for Nato air patrol missions along Russia's western border.
The hike in tensions over the Ukraine crisis came amid reports in Russian media that the country's ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych is in a Moscow hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack.
His condition was said to be 'grave', according to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, known as MK, citing unofficial sources.
Deposed president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych is in a Moscow hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack, a Russian newspaper has claimed
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured with sportsmen at the mountain Paralympic village outside Sochi on Wednesday) dismissed a report earlier this week that Yanukovych had died from a heart attack
Armed men in military uniform are seen outside the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, Ukraine, on Friday
Putin has said Russia and the United States still stood far apart over Ukraine, but the two countries should not sacrifice relations over a disagreement on an individual, albeit very important, international problem
Russian president Vladimir Putin dismissed a report earlier this week that Yanukovych had died from a heart attack in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin leader said his former ally was 'alive and healthy', and that he had met him several days earlier.
However, Yanukovych has not been seen in public since giving a press conference in Russia one week ago.
Putin also claimed the former leader would have been killed if not for his rescue in Sevastopol by Russian forces.
Austrian authorities have said SWAT teams boarded a plane carrying Ukraine's new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Thursday after receiving a threat that a terrorist attack was planned
The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament has today dismissed suggestions there would be war between Russia and Ukraine
Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Russian Federation Council has also said Crimea's parliament has the right to hold a referendum on the region's future status
Russian paper Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) said today: 'According to an MK source, Yanukovych may have had a heart attack. His condition is assessed as grave.'
The name of the Moscow hospital was not given.
'So far there has been no official confirmation,' stated the newspaper.
Yanukovych is the subject of a formal request by the authorities in Kiev for extradition to face an investigation for ordering his security forces to shoot unarmed protesters in Kiev last month. He denies the allegations.
Russia believes Yanukovych remains the legal president of Ukraine. Putin agreed to give him sanctuary after he was toppled.
'The legitimate president, purely legally, is undoubtedly Yanukovych,' said Putin on Tuesday.
Russia now has 30,000 troops in Ukraine's Crimea region, Ukrainian border guards said on Friday, nearly twice the previous figure given by the government in Kiev.
Serhiy Astakhov, aide to the head of border guards service, told Reuters the figure was an estimate and included both troops that had arrived since last week and Russia's Black Sea Fleet, permanently based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
Russia, whose forces occupied the isolated peninsula last week, says the only troops it has there are those based in Sevastopol. The Russian troops that have occupied positions across Crimea wear no insignia on their uniforms but drive vehicles with Russian military plates.
Ukraine says thousands of extra troops have arrived and have fanned out across the occupied peninsula in violation of the treaty governing the base. Earlier this week Ukraine said there were a total of 16,000 Russian troops in Crimea.
Uniformed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard near a Ukrainian military base outside the city of Sevastopol
Ukraine is ready for talks with Russia, but Moscow must first withdraw its troops, abide by international agreements and halt its support for 'separatists and terrorists', Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday
A Russian warship, part of a blockade of Ukrainian ships, is pictured in Sevastopol harbour on Friday
Leading Ukranian politician Yulia Tymoshenko today said there was a danger of guerrilla war in Crimea should it be incorporated into Russia.
She said a Russian takeover of the Crimean peninsula would create long-term dangers for the whole region and appealed to Germany and others for immediate economic sanctions against Moscow.
Speaking to Reuters after a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Tymoshenko said international measures against Russia had so far been ineffective and called for immediate action to prevent a 'flashpoint'.
Demonstrators who have remained encamped in Kiev's central Independence Square to defend the revolution that ousted Yanukovich said they did not believe Crimea would be allowed to secede.
'We are optimists. Crimea will stand with us and we will fight for it,' said Taras Yurkiv, 35, from the eastern city of Lviv. 'How we will fight depends on the decisions of our leadership. If necessary, we will go with force. If you want peace, you must prepare for war.'
Riot police stand at the entrance of the regional administrative building in Donetsk, Ukraine
A woman walks past as Ukrainian riot police stand at the entrance of the regional administrative building in Donetsk
Donetsk is an ethnic Russian stronghold and on Wednesday evening pro-Russian protesters took over the regional administration building, before police regained control of it on Thursday
Alexander Zaporozhets, 40, from central Ukraine's Kirovograd region, put his faith in international pressure.
'I don't think the Russians will be allowed to take Crimea from us: you can't behave like that to an independent state. We have the support of the whole world. But I think we are losing time. While the Russians are preparing, we are just talking.'
Elsewhere, military observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have, for the second day in a row, been unable to enter Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, the body said in a post on Twitter.
'Military assessment visitors from OSCE States denied entry into Crimea on Friday, heading back to Kherson to plan next steps,' it said.
It has also been revealed the Turkish Air Force scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew parallel along its Black Sea coast, the military has today said.
The incident, the second of its kind reported this week, occurred on Thursday. The Russian plane remained in international airspace, according to a statement on the website of the military General Staff.
Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, which juts into the north of the Black Sea, is at the centre of the current standoff between Russia and Ukraine's new pro-Western government. NATO member Turkey forms the southern coastline of the Black Sea.
The Turkish Air Force scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew parallel along its Black Sea coast, the military has today said (2007 file picture shows Turkish F-16 jet)
The incident, the second of its kind reported this week, occurred on Thursday. File picture shows Turkish F-16 jets as they prepare to take off in 2007
Elsewhere, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament has today dismissed suggestions there would be war between Russia and Ukraine after President Putin said he had the right to invade if the situation in Ukraine worsened.
'It's complete nonsense, it absolutely does not reflect our intentions, the feelings of empathy and the pain we feel for the Ukrainian people,' said Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Russian Federation Council.
'We are absolutely sure that there will never be a war between the two brotherly nations.'
She also said Crimea's parliament has the right to hold a referendum on the region's future status.
The parliament in Ukraine's southern Crimea region said on Thursday it would hold a referendum on whether the region should join Russia on March 16.
Matviyenko said: 'Yesterday we learned about the historic decision taken by the Crimean parliament to hold a referendum on accession, on entry into the Russian Federation.
Cossacks stand guard at the entrance to the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine
On Thursday, the local parliament of the Crimea region voted to leave Ukraine and ask to join Russia in a direct challenge to Ukraine's new government in Kiev
Russian Cossacks have taken up guard duties at road checkpoints, border crossings and other key facilities that were previously guarded by local, pro-Russian militants across Crimea in recent days
European Union leaders have urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to enter direct talks with the Ukrainian government, warning of 'far-reaching consequences' for relations with Moscow if there is any further escalation
'Without a doubt, the Crimean parliament, as a legitimate authority, has that right ... The sovereign right of the people to determine their future.'
Earlier today, France's foreign minister said if a first round of sanctions did not succeed against Russia in the wake of its military intervention in Ukraine, a second could follow, targeting Russian businesses and people close to President Vladimir Putin.
European Union leaders have urged Putin to enter direct talks with the Ukrainian government, warning of 'far-reaching consequences' for relations with Moscow if there is any further escalation.
At emergency talks in Brussels, leaders of the group of 28 states agreed on a limited package of sanctions to take immediate effect with the threat of further measures - including asset freezes and travel bans - unless there was swift action to end the stand-off.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius today told France Info Radio: 'If there are not very swift results, there will be new measures aimed at those responsible and Russian businesses. It could be freezing assets, it could be cancellations, it could be refusing visas,' he added, without elaborating.
Fabius called the situation in Ukraine 'a serious crisis, maybe one of the most serious since the Cold War'.
On Thursday, the local parliament of the Crimea region voted to leave Ukraine and ask to join Russia in a direct challenge to Ukraine's new government in Kiev.
Fabius said any new move by Russia to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, formally under its control could have 'grave consequences' for relations between Russia and Europe.
'There will be no more international stability if a region... because it's solicited by a neighbouring country, can decide to change its borders and attach itself to its neighbour,' Fabius added.
Any deterioration of economic ties between Russia and its trading partners could be a 'very big blow' to Moscow, Fabius said, adding that any new sanctions could target Putin's inner circle.
Russia has today accused the European Union of taking an 'extremely unconstructive position' by freezing talks on easing visa barriers and on a comprehensive agreement that would govern ties between Moscow and the EU over Ukraine.
'Russia will not accept the language of sanctions and threats' and will retaliate if sanctions are imposed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement about the agreements reached at the emergency EU summit on Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama has, meanwhile, ordered sanctions against figures responsible for the military intervention in Ukraine, including travel bans and a freezing of their assets in the United States, although a U.S. official said Putin was not on the list.
Putin has said Russia and the United States still stood far apart over Ukraine, but the two countries should not sacrifice relations over a disagreement on an individual, albeit very important, international problem.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin on Friday, the Russian leader told U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call on Thursday that Ukraine's new leaders had imposed 'absolutely illegitimate decisions on the eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions'.
'Russia cannot ignore calls for help in this matter and it acts accordingly, in full compliance with the international law,' Putin said.
'(He) stressed the paramount importance of Russian-American relations to ensure stability and security in the world. These relations should not be sacrificed for individual differences, albeit very important ones, over international problems.'
In the one-hour call, Obama urged Putin to accept the terms of a potential diplomatic solution to the crisis, which has triggered the worst crisis in U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War.
Putin has stridently defended Russia's moves in Ukraine, a country he calls a 'a brotherly nation', saying Moscow was not behind the seizure of Crimea, home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (pictured, left, with Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday) has said if a first round of sanctions did not succeed against Russia, a second could follow
Putin has stridently defended Russia's moves in Ukraine, a country he calls a 'a brotherly nation', saying Moscow was not behind the seizure of Crimea, home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet
He has denied western accusations that his troops have captured state buildings there, saying the armed men were members of local self-defence units.
He says Russia is willing to cooperate with western powers but any solution to the crisis must be based on an EU-brokered agreement signed on February 21 by ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich, who Putin has said is Ukraine's legitimate president.
Putin said he agreed with Obama that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry should continue 'intensive contacts' on Ukraine.
Putin's spokesman has today said the president's efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine are met with no understanding.
'Regardless of all the efforts of our president, his readiness to explain Russia's position practically on a daily basis, we still hit a wall of no understanding,' Peskov said in comments due to broadcast on state television Rossiya 24 on Sunday.
'It is rather sad and what is worse is that it is very bad from the point of view of possible repercussions.'
U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered sanctions against figures responsible for the military intervention in Ukraine
He added Moscow was not orchestrating events in Ukraine. 'Quite the opposite,' he said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has said NATO's decision to curb its cooperation with Moscow showed a 'biased and prejudiced approach' over Ukraine.
'We see as extremely dangerous attempts to bring in the "NATO factor" to Ukraine, where the situation is complex and delicate as it is, as it creates additional tension and undermines the prospects for settling the situation,' the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine meanwhile has decided against boycotting the Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
The head of Ukraine's Paralympic Committee says the country's athletes will stay and compete in Sochi despite Russia's military moves in Crimea.
The decision was announced a few hours before Friday's opening ceremony.
Russian news agency R-Sport quoted Valeriy Sushkevich, the president of Ukraine's National Paralympic Committee, as saying 'we are staying at the Paralympics'.
However, he added: 'I don't know to what extent the team can focus on the result now.'
Foreign ministers from central Europe, the Baltics and Nordics today condemned Russia's military intervention in Ukraine and a planned referendum planned by Crimea's government, calling for the EU to send an observation mission to Kiev.
The group of countries, many of them sharing land borders with Russia or the Ukraine and living with the memory of Soviet rule, have taken a tough line in the face of Moscow as the crisis has escalated.
'Nordic and Baltic countries and the Visegrad countries' foreign ministers condemned today ... the attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and also condemned the illegal referendum on the joining of Crimea with Russia,' the ministers said in joint statement from the meeting.
Foreign ministers from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, known as the Visegrad Four, and from the Nordics and Baltics met at the Estonian town of Narva on the Russian border.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the European Union needed to strengthen its defence policy and upgrade crisis management capabilities in the wake of the events on its borders.
'It is a challenge we did not wish for, but is knocking at our doors,' he said.
The Council of Europe, the pan-European human rights watchdog, is offering to investigate violence and the treatment of minorities in Ukraine to try to defuse mounting tensions between Kiev and Russia, Austria has said.
Sebastian Kurz, the foreign minister of Austria, which holds the revolving chair of the 47-member Council until May, told Reuters on Friday that he and the Council's secretary general would visit Kiev on Monday to offer its services in the conflict.
Both Russia and Ukraine are members of the Council of Europe, which Kurz said had credibility and expertise in supporting minority rights. He called the Ukrainian parliament's repeal of a law making Russia a recognised language in some regions 'an absolute mistake'.
Asked how Russia had reacted so far to the mediation offer, Kurz said: 'At least there have been no negative voices in the Council of Europe from the Russian side.'
The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is also trying to mediate in Ukraine.
However, dozens of military observers from OSCE members invited by Ukraine to monitor the situation in Crimea had to turn back on Thursday after failing to get past roadblocks.
The OSCE, a pan-European forum for security issues that was set up during the Cold War, is also trying to put together a 'contact group' of leading players in the Ukraine crisis and to arrange a broader monitoring mission for Ukraine.
On Wednesday, NATO announced a full review of its cooperation with Russia and said it would suspend planning for a joint mission linked to Syrian chemical weapons.
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