By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli diplomats launched an unprecedented strike on Sunday, forcing the complete closure of embassies around the world as they escalated a dispute over pay, officials said.

The industrial action has already threatened to postpone a visit by Pope Francis to Israel planned for May - one of 25 trips by foreign officials affected by a work slowdown the diplomats began on March 5 when wage talks broke down.

By escalating the action to a full strike - the first by the diplomatic corps since the country's establishment in 1948 - the diplomats will close all of Israel's 102 missions abroad, paralyzing most diplomatic work with other countries and the United Nations.

"We are completely shutting down the (foreign ministry) office and missions abroad. This is the first time ever," ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

Another ministry official told Reuters: "As of now, the foreign ministry doesn't exist. It's not possible even to submit complaints".

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Called the strike "irresponsible" and "a wretched decision and a display of a loss of control on union's part."

"We shall do whatever possible to minimize the damage to the country and its citizens," Lieberman said.

Diplomats said the strike - involving some 1,200 foreign service employees - was open-ended and had been called after the Treasury had failed to present any acceptable proposals.

They are demanding an increase in monthly salaries, which they put at 6,000-9,000 shekels ($1,700-$2,600), and want compensation for spouses forced to quit jobs due to foreign postings. They say about a third of their number has quit in the past 15 years due to poor wages.

Yacov Livne, spokesman for the diplomats' union, said: "the Treasury is determined to destroy the foreign ministry and Israeli diplomacy."

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's Western-backed leaders voiced fears of an imminent Russian invasion of the industrial heartland, as NATO's top commander warned of a "very sizeable" Russian troop presence on Ukraine's eastern border.

The warnings came a day after Kremlin troops seized Ukraine's last airbase in Crimea, deploying armoured personnel carriers and stun grenades in a spectacular show of force after sealing the peninsula's annexation.

The interim leaders in Kiev fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is developing a sense of impunity after being hit by only limited EU and US sanctions for taking the Black Sea cape.

"The aim of Putin is not Crimea but all of Ukraine.... His troops massed at the border are ready to attack at any moment," Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council chief Andriy Parubiy told a mass unity rally in Kiev.

NATO's top commander, General Philip Breedlove, warned that the Russian force on the border was "very, very sizeable and very, very ready" and could threaten Transdniestr, a Moscow-backed separatist territory of Moldova.

Alarm about a push outside Crimea by Moscow's overwhelming forces -- now conducting drills at Ukraine's eastern gate -- were fanned further by a call from its self-declared premier for Russians across the ex-Soviet country to rise up against Kiev's rule.

Europe's most explosive crisis in decades will dominate a nuclear security summit opening in The Hague on Monday.

US President Barack Obama is to attend the gathering, on the first leg of a European trip that would also take in Brussels and the Vatican, before he continues on to Saudi Arabia.

View gallery

Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of the marine battalion headquarters in the Crimean city of Feodos …

US Secretary of State John Kerry will also meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with Russia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of leading nations.

It will be their first meeting since Washington imposed financial restrictions on the most powerful members of Putin's inner circle for their decision to resort to force in response to last month's fall of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin regime.

- Transdniestr games 'worrisome' -

Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya reaffirmed Ukrainian concerns in an interview broadcast on Sunday on a top US political talk show.

"We do not know what Putin has in his mind and what would be his decision. That's why this situation is becoming even more explosive than it used to be a week ago," Deshchytsya told ABC.

View gallery

A man wearing a mask and holding the Death's Scythe holds a placard with a portrait of Russian P …

NATO's Breedlove meanwhile said Russian military exercises in Transdniestr, which lies on Ukraine's southwestern border, were "worrisome".

"There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transdniestr if the decision was made (in Moscow) to do that," Breedlove said.

Hours later, however, Moscow issued an apparently conciliatory statement saying Putin had spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and expressed "satisfaction" over the decision to send Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors to heavily Russified southeastern Ukraine.

One of the biggest tests facing the besieged interim leaders in Kiev now comes from restless Russians who have been stirring up violent protests and demanding their own secession referendums in southeastern Ukraine.

Many in the region, whose cultural and trade ties with Russia go back centuries, mistrust the new leadership's European values.

On Sunday, Crimea's Russia-backed prime minister Sergei Aksyonov said the peninsula began facing a "sad fate" the moment three months of deadly protests toppled the pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev.

"But we resisted and won! Our motherland -- Russia -- extended her hand of help," said Aksyonov. "So today, I appeal to you with a call to fight."

View gallery

Russian troops block the Ukrainian marine battalion headquarters in the Crimean city of Feodosia on …

Aksyonov said he was "deeply convinced" that the future of southeastern Ukraine "rested in a close union with the Russian Federation -- a political, economic and cultural union".

- Stun grenades -

Crimea's authorities estimate they together with the Kremlin's forces control at least half of Ukrainian bases on the Black Sea peninsula and about a third of its functioning naval vessels.

Ukraine's acting defence minister Igor Tenyukh on Sunday lamented that his navy officers appeared too ready to surrender to Kremlin-backed militias and Russia's Black Sea Fleet that has made Crimea its home since the 18th century.

"You know that in recent days, we have had our ships blockaded and seized even though our commanders had the authorisation to use force," Tenyukh told reporters in Kiev.

View gallery

Pro-Ukrainian activists shout slogans during the rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on M …

"Unfortunately, the commanders made decisions on the spot. They chose not to use their weapons in order to avoid bloodshed."

The Ukrainians' refusal to engage Russian forces led to a domino-like fall of their bases across the rugged peninsula of two million people.

The most dramatic episode of Russia's excursion so far saw crack forces on Saturday break into the Belbek airbase near the main city of Simferopol after an armoured personnel carrier blasted through the main gate.

Two more armoured personnel carriers followed and gunmen stormed in firing automatic weapons into the air.

Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said Sunday that the Russian forces had captured the base commander.

Following the seizures, parts of Crimea -- which depends on Ukraine for its electricity and water supplies -- suffered power outages.

- Bid to 'splinter Europe' -

Russia's diplomatic isolation is now growing as quickly as the reemergence of an ideological divide that appeared to have been bridged with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

Germany's foreign minister warned after talks with Ukraine's leaders that the continent's future was at stake.

The show of diplomatic solidarity may play an important psychological role in Kiev as it faces new pressure from Russia that includes open threats to throw Ukraine's wheezing economy into convulsion by raising its gas rates and demanding colossal payments for disputed debts.

Yet both the United States and Europe have thus far limited their retaliation against Putin to targeted travel and financial sanctions that concern officials but do not impact the broader Russian economy.

Washington's steps have been more meaningful because they hit what US officials call a Putin "crony bank" as well as oligarchs who are believed to be closest to the Russian strongman.

Joined by NATO's top commander, Ukrainian leaders warn that Russian troops are "massed at the border."
Bid to 'splinter Europe'

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday on charges including murder, a defence lawyer said, in a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the movement.

Most were arrested during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14.

Political turmoil has deepened in Egypt since the army overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July. Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the street, and arrested thousands of others.

"The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16 were acquitted," lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The ruling can be appealed.

The charges against the group, on trial in Minya since Saturday, include violence, inciting murder, storming a police station, attacking persons and damaging public and private property.

Only 123 of the defendants were present. The rest were either released, out on bail or on the run.

The government has declared the Brotherhood a "terrorist" group. The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful movement.

A court in Cairo escalates the crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood with a harsh ruling.
123 defendants present

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — President Barack Obama delved into a day of delicate diplomacy Monday as he sought to rally the international community around efforts to isolate Russia following its incursion into Ukraine.

Hours after arriving in the Netherlands for a nuclear summit, Obama held one-on-one talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China has often sided with Russia in disputes with the West, but U.S. officials have been appealing to Beijing's well-known opposition to outside interference in other nation's domestic affairs.

Obama treaded carefully in statements with Xi before their meeting, saying only that they planned to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

"I believe ultimately, that by working together, China and the United States can help strengthen international law and respect for the sovereignty of nations and establish the kind of rules internationally that allow all peoples to thrive," Obama said in a subtle appeal for Chinese support.

He added that he and the Chinese leader would also seek to "work through frictions that exist in our relations" on matters like human rights and maritime disputes.

Xi, for his part, pointed to areas of potential cooperation with the U.S. as he settled in for what Obama described as a wide-ranging session. "It is like a menu — and a rich one at that," Xi said through an interpreter.

View gallery

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets China's President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of a nuclear se …

Obama's meeting with Xi opened a week of international travel where crisis in Ukraine tops the agenda. After arriving in the Netherlands on a sunny and brisk Monday morning and meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Obama asserted that the U.S. and Europe stand together behind Ukraine.

No issue commands more of Obama's and Europe's attention than Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the fear that Moscow could decide to expand further into Ukraine. But Obama also is attempting to use his weeklong trip to personally reconnect not only with Europe but Asia and the Middle East, all strategically crucial regions with their own tensions and qualms about the U.S.

Obama's meeting with Xi highlighted another tricky front in U.S. international relations and comes just a day after The New York Times and the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the U.S. National Security Agency had hacked into the servers of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Meanwhile, China has been wary of Obama's efforts to increase U.S. influence in the Asia Pacific region. The U.S. has also called for restraint in China's maritime territorial disputes with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors.

China, a frequent Russian ally, abstained a week ago from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Crimea's secession referendum illegal. With Russia vetoing the measure and the 13 other council members voting in favor, China's abstention served to isolate Moscow internationally.

Raw: President Obama Arrives in NetherlandsPlay video

Nuclear terrorism was the official topic as Obama and other world leaders streamed in to a convention center in The Hague for a two-day nuclear summit. It opened Monday with Japan announcing it would turn over to the U.S. more than 700 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium and a supply of highly-enriched uranium, a victory for Obama's efforts to secure nuclear materials around the world.

But the headline event of the day is a Ukraine-focused, hurriedly scheduled meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized economies — the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

On Tuesday, Obama plans a joint meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a session preceded by a sit-down with Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the richest emirate in the United Arab Emirates federation.

In an interview with the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant published before he arrived Monday, Obama says his message to European leaders is that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to "understand the economic and political consequences of his actions in Ukraine."

Still, he said he does not view Europe as a battleground between the East and the West. "That's the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War," he said. "On the contrary, it's important that Ukraine have good relations with the United States, Russia, and Europe."

View gallery

President Barack Obama, center, and two secret service agents are silhouetted as he walks towards Ma …

Discussion among Obama and his G-7 counterparts will center on economic aid to Ukraine, while at the same time seeking to segregate Putin from the exclusive group, which Russia usually joins in Group of Eight meetings.

More broadly, the Ukraine crisis will test Obama's ability to forge a unified and forceful stance against Russia from European leaders who are alarmed by Putin's moves but whose economies are dependent on Russian energy and trade.

In the interview, Obama conceded that the sanctions he has threatened against Russian economic sectors could have worldwide impacts.

But, he added: "If Russia continues to escalate the situation, we need to be prepared to impose a greater cost."

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn at http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

The president reaches out to China's leader at talks at the Nuclear Security Summit.
U.S., Europe 'united'

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's fledgling government ordered troops to retreat from Crimea on Monday, ending days of wavering as Western leaders tried to present a unified response to Russia's increasingly firm control of the peninsula.

Russian forces have been systematically seizing Ukrainian ships and military installations in Crimea, including a naval base near the eastern Crimean port of Feodosia, where two injured servicemen were taken captive on Monday and as many as 80 were detained on-site, Ukrainian officials said.

With the storming of at least three military facilities over the past three days alone — and the decision by some to switch to the Russian side — it wasn't clear how many Ukrainian troops remained on the peninsula. The former chief of Ukraine's navy, who was charged with treason after he swore allegiance to the Crimean authorities and urged others to defect, was named a deputy chief of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchnynov, whose new government has struggled to maintain control and cohesion, said the Defense Ministry was ordered to withdraw all servicemen in Crimea to Ukraine's mainland.

The situation in Ukraine is set to dominate U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda as he begins a week of international travel in the Netherlands, where he was to attend a nuclear security summit. The event has been overshadowed by hurriedly scheduled talks on Ukraine among the Group of Seven industrialized economies — the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

"We're united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far," Obama said.

View gallery

Activists stand guard during a pro Russian rally at a central square in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Su …

Speaking to leading lawmakers in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Turchnynov said Ukrainian troops would be evacuated with their families in response to unspecified threats from what he termed occupying Russian forces.

The interim government in Kiev has been criticized for its indecision over Ukrainian troops in Crimea, where Russian forces have steadily gained control of bases and ships. Over the weekend, Russian troops stormed the Belbek air force base near Sevastopol and detained the commander.

Tired of weeks of tension, uncertainty and Kiev's indecision, some Ukrainian troops were leaving their bases. In the bay of Donuzlav in western Crimea, the crew of the Ukrainian navy ship Konstantin Olshanskiy were packing up and leaving Monday.

The ship's crew was using a small boat that made several round trips to carry them to the shore.

There were hecklers on the shore when the crew arrived. One man shouted that they were "rats fleeing a ship," while another man blasted the Russian national anthem out of his car.

G-7 holds emergency meetingPlay video

"We aren't rats, we aren't running," said one sailor, who only gave his first name of Yevgeny to discuss a sensitive subject. "Why should we have stayed, what would we have accomplished?"

Russia completed its annexation of Crimea last week, after its troops took control over the Ukrainian region following the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly government in Kiev.

Moscow says its absorption of Crimea has been rendered legitimate by a referendum held earlier this month in which the bulk of voters in the peninsula approved the move, but the process has come under sustained criticism from the international community.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Crimea on Monday to inspect the Black Sea Fleet, which has been stationed in Crimea under an agreement with Ukraine that allowed Moscow to have up to 25,000 troops in the peninsula. The Russian officials have remained coy about their precise number.

Shoigu met with Ukrainian servicemen, explaining the benefits and privileges they will have if they join the Russian military.

He named the former head of Ukraine's navy, Denis Berezovsky, as deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Berezovsky was appointed commander of Ukraine's navy on March 1, only to surrender the country's base in the port of Sevastopol to pro-Russian forces a day later. Authorities in Kiev have charged him with treason.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev chaired a meeting on providing economic aid to Crimea, promising that Crimeans will continue receiving pensions and subsidies even after the region switches to the Russian ruble.

The West has leveled a raft of sanctions against Russia for its moves in Crimea that have been hailed by some, but criticized as not going far enough by others.

In Moscow, some restaurants are mocking the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea by posting signs saying that they have banned Obama from their premises.

___

Laura Mills in Donuzlav, Crimea contributed to this report.

View Gallery

Ukraine orders troop pullout from Crimea