By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia after Russia recognized two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine and ordered troops into the regions.

By 10:43PM ET (3:43 GMT), they were up 0.2% to $1.911.45 On Tuesday, the dollar edged up, as it normally moves in an opposite direction to gold. As tensions escalate in Russia and Ukraine, investors turn to safer-haven assets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized two separatist regions of Ukraine on Monday. He ordered troops from the Russian Army into these areas.

The White House announced that investment and trade between U.S. citizens and these two countries are forbidden by an executive order issued by Joe Biden.

While the accelerating crisis has driven to a seven year high, safe-havens have rallied and U.S. stocks futures plunged.

Over the Ukraine crisis and U.S. Federal Reserve interest rates hikes, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yields plunged as much as 5.5%.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Monday she will look at the economic data over the next three weeks to determine whether it is necessary to raise the interest rate by a half percentage point at the central bank’s next meeting in March.

Other precious metals: Silver was up 0.4% while platinum rose 0.5%, and palladium gained 0.5%.