VESPEIRO

Russian forces block access to the base of the 36th detached brigade of the Ukrainian Navy’s coastal guards, not far from the village of Perevalne, near Simferopol, on March 5, 2014. Russian forces seized partial control of two Ukrainian missile bases in Crimea today as Western and Russian leaders stepped up efforts to defuse the region’s worst crisis since the Cold War. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER NEMENOV