11.   Ukraine has demanded that Russia close its consular office on the Crimean peninsula, a step that threatened to revive tensions between Moscow and Kiev.

12.   Ukrainian Interior Ministry officials and relatives of a slain police chief mourned Tuesday during a funeral ceremony at his hometown on the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea.

13.   He said relations between the two countries have been soured by the dispute over the Crimean peninsula, where the former Black Sea fleet is stationed.

14.   He spoke ahead of talks Tuesday in Moscow with Ukrainian officials to try to defuse a crisis that has flared on the Crimean peninsula.

15.   Heavy snow has also caused avalanches in Georgia and huge snowdrifts which have stopped traffic in many places on the Crimean peninsula.

16.   However, differences remained on the question of home ports in the secessionist and mainly Russian-inhabited Crimean peninsula, where the fleet is based.

17.   In the Crimean peninsula, where the Russian majority wants reunification with Russia, Kuchma scored a predicted massive victory over Kravchuk.

18.   Creating fresh tension on the sensitive Crimean peninsula, Sebastopol City Council voted Tuesday for the ancient east seaport to become part of Russia.

19.   The paper had recently published a series on organised crime on the Crimean peninsula, which is part of Ukraine.

20.   The Ukrainian spokesman said meanwhile that the only movement of interior ministry troops was to cover a recent gangland crime wave sweeping the Crimean peninsula.