The Crimean Parliament on Tuesday said it would declare itself independent if its residents approve a referendum on March 16, which would split off the peninsula from Ukraine, and be under Russian auspices. The legal maneuver has been viewed as illegitimate by the U.S. and the European powers, but may de-escalate simmering tensions in the region in recent weeks.
The Obama administration is preparing $1 billion aid package in loan guarantees to the interim Ukrainian government following heightened tensions with Russia, after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade the Crimean peninsula over the weekend.
One of the main reason protesters in Ukraine braved the cold winter for the past few months, which has lead to deadly clashes with riot police was that they sought to challenge President Yanukovch's increasingly authoritarian rule of law and his method of centralizing corruption.
With chants of "help Ukraine, help Ukraine" bellowing on this rainy Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainians in New York City gathered en masse at the Federal Reserve Bank on Wednesday.
