TODAY: Russian tanks cross into Ukraine, thousands flee fighting in Slavyansk; Russia denies seriousness of situation; neighbouring countries plan television channel to combat Kremlin propaganda; Slavyansk major held by rebel Russian citizen; Gazprom to cut Ukraine supplies by Monday if Kiev does not pay; Lavrov tells West ‘I told you so’ over Iraq.

Ukraine is saying that three Russian tanks crossed into eastern Ukraine yesterday, blaming separatist rebels but implicating the Kremlin in having failed to keep its promises about tighter borders.  But Russia denies the accusations, and says the situation in eastern Ukraine isn’t serious enough to warrant sending peacekeepers there, contradicting reports which claim that ‘tens of thousands’ are fleeing to avoid combat between state authorities and Russian rebels in Slavyansk.  The Kremlin’s propaganda machine is so active in and around Russia that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are planning jointly to set up a Russian-language television channel to combat its barrage of misinformation about Russian-speakers in Ukraine.  A presenter on Russia’s RBK channel became enraged when an interviewee claimed that masked men stormed a mine in Donetsk, and accused the man of ‘just broadcasting the opinion of Ukrainian television’.  The fate of Slavyansk’s mayor, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, currently detained on suspicion of improper budget spending, is in the hands of the leader of a separatist faction in the region, reported to be a Russian citizen.