Big news on the aid convoy. Update from our news desk:
Russia's Foreign Ministry says a humanitarian convoy which is heading to eastern Ukraine from Russia would cross the border only "under the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross."
Russian officials said on August 12 that a convoy of 280 vehicles carrying some 2,000 tons of aid -- from baby food to sleeping bags -- headed from Moscow to Ukraine.
Ukraine's military said the aid would have to be unloaded from the Russian trucks and transferred by the Red Cross to other vehicles if it is to be allowed in.
The ICRC earlier on August 12 said it had no information on what the Russian trucks were carrying or where they were going.
Ukrainian and Western officials have voiced concerns that Russia could use the pretext of humanitarian aid to send troops into eastern Ukraine where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists.
We just spoke to an ICRC spokesman, Ewan Watson, about the convoy: "At the moment it is not an International Red Cross convoy, inasmuch as we haven't had sight of the material, we haven't had certain information regarding the content, and the volume of aid that it contains."
And now it seems Dmitry Medvedev is weighing in on how Russia should deal with sanctions. (Is it just us or do some of his comments have an eerie Soviet-era ring to them?):
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for farming regions to increase their output and make the country agriculturally self-sufficient.
Medvedev said during a visit to Pyatigorsk in Stavropol Krai today that more investment needs to be directed into agriculture and animal husbandry so that Russia can end its dependence on imports.
Medvedev said a new food program for the country would be drawn up that would propose "large-scale adjustments to the current state programs for the development of agriculture."
He also said he would soon convene a meeting of the heads of Russia's leading agricultural regions.
Medvedev's comments come after Russia imposed a series of restrictions on the imports of food, mainly from Western nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia for the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine.
Medvedev also advised Russia's youth to wear clothing that features the "flag or symbols of Russia," not foreign countries.
(Interfax, ITAR-TASS)
Russian soldiers brag on Internet about repainting 300 KAMAZ trucks to carry aid http://t.co/xlCoUD4nff
— Katya Gorchinskaya (@kgorchinskaya) August 12, 2014
Deep in DNR territory, eyewitnesses say 2 DNR fighters shot dead in this truck by partisans who drove 2 black cars. pic.twitter.com/tbO7kCdFNd
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 12, 2014
A stranger streamed in Simferopol… #Strelkov via @nomoreanry pic.twitter.com/YvVaMdnnWN
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) August 12, 2014
Our news desk has issued this item on Putin's upcoming trip to Crimea:
Russia's President Vladimir Putin will travel this week to Crimea, where he will meet with his top security chiefs and address members of government and parliament traveling with him.
The presidential press service said Putin will chair a meeting of members of the Security Council in Sevastopol tomorrow.
On August 14, he will discuss key domestic issues, "including those in Crimea," with State Duma lawmakers and federal ministers.
The United States and the European Union have imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in March, as well as its perceived support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin will be among the officials accompanying Putin on his visit to Crimea.
(Reuters, ITAR-TASS)
On Donbass roads. pic.twitter.com/JbnGHa7Bo5
— Simon Kruse (@crusoes) August 12, 2014