TODAY: First hostile takeover in Crimea, OSCE barred from entering the region; Foreign Ministry blasts ‘lawless’ Ukraine; anti-Russia journalists ‘disappear’; Kerry declines Putin meeting; Moldovan PM fears contagion of unrest; Khodorkovsky continues Ukraine tour; Kremlin tightens grip on social media; Rosboronexport expanding its horizons; YouTube blocked in Siberia.

Russian or Russian-backed troops opened fire during their capture of a naval post in Crimea yesterday – the first reported incident of a hostile takeover in Ukraine; rumours suggest Russia may now be sending troops further North.  The Organization for Seucrity and Cooperation in Europe has now failed three times in its attempts to gain entry into the breakaway region.  The Foreign Ministry is justifying its position with (widely denied) allegations of ‘lawlessness’ and ultranationalism in eastern Ukraine.  At least six Ukrainian activists and journalists who oppose Russia’s occupation of Crimea are currently missing, and another activist was shot with rubber bullets for trying to enter Crimea to support anti-Russian protesters there.  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he will not take up Vladimir Putin’s invitation to meet until Russia engages on its proposals to deescalate the current conflict; but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected America’s proposals, saying they ‘did not completely satisfy us’.  Moldova’s prime minister fears that Crimea’s ‘contagious’ crisis could ignite separatist sentiments in his country’s Russian-speaking territory.