TODAY: Crimea’s main airport falls under Russian control, interim government in Kiev appeals to West for help; Russian TV channels barred from broadcast in Ukraine; E.U. will go ahead with sanctions if no dialogue has begun as of next week; OSCE says Crimea referendum illegal; World Bank pledges $3bn; Gazprom presses ahead with South Stream; Putin’s body language.

Further Ukrainian bases are falling under Russian control, now including Crimea’s main airport, and Ukraine’s interim government says Russia currently has 220,000 troops in Crimea, and has appealed to the U.S. and Britain for ‘all possible diplomatic, political, economic and military measures’ to assist it in dealing with Russia’s current ‘aggression’.  Ukraine is planning to establish a new National Guard force to ‘defend’ itself ‘from internal or external aggression’.  Chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, denies that Russia is at war with Ukraine, and says the two countries are ‘one nation […] we come from the same cradle’.  Thanks to a mass media under Kremlin control, roughly 43% of Russians think that ‘Western actions’ have caused the current Ukrainian crisis, says this piece.  The Moscow Times documents the discrepancies, half-truths and distortions of the state-run media’s propaganda.  Ukraine’s national broadcasting council has ordered providers to stop broadcasting Russian TV channels, as a measure to ensure national security.  The European Union will go ahead with travel bans and asset freezes next Monday if Moscow has not started dialogue with Ukraine by that point – Russian leaders are currently refusing all negotiations with their Ukrainian counterparts, says acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, and the head of the Council of Europe says he does not think it is possible for Russian troops to leave Crimea now.  Reuters explains why Western-led sanctions against Russia will prove to be messy business.