Main News of March 4

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said:

– The acting authorities in Ukraine are illegitimate, but a military intervention in Russia’s western neighbor would be a last resort

– Russia has not deployed any troops in Crimea recently and has no plans to annex the peninsula

– Russia has no legal obligations before Ukraine because it has undergone a revolution

* Russia test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from a test site in southern Russia, a Russian defense ministry spokesman said

* The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said that developing technologies for robotic exploration of the moon and Mars is a priority

* Russian prison officials said they have fitted opposition leader Alexei Navalny with an electronic bracelet to monitor his activities for the next two months while he is under house arrest

WORLD

* Ukraine is waiting for a “clear response” from Russia on a $2 billion loan needed to cover its debt for Russian gas supplies, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said

* China appeared to distance itself from Russia by calling for a peaceful resolution to the current situation in Ukraine during a session at the United Nations

* The newly appointed leader of Crimea in southern Ukraine said that the region is to form its own defense ministry

* A virus frozen for 30,000 years in Siberian permafrost has been revived by a team of French and Russian scientists, they said