It seems some more NATO jets have been scrambled, this time off the coast of Britain:
Britain says two Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets have been scrambled after Russian long-range bombers were seen flying towards British airspace.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said on May 14 that the two Russian planes were spotted north of Scotland.
The statement said the planes, identified as Russian Bear strategic bombers, were escorted "until they were out of the U.K. area of interest."
"At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into UK sovereign airspace," it added.
Intercepts of Russian aircraft by NATO member states have increased over the last year amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.
Russian officials have denied any wrongdoing, saying their aircraft have been complying with international rules.
(AP, Reuters)
There's definitely some interesting legal gymnastics going on here:
Here are some details in English in case you don't read Russian (an RFE/RL report from earlier this year):
A court in Crimea has jailed a local resident, Oleksandr Kostenko, on charges of attacking a Ukrainian security officer in Kyiv during the February 2014 protests in Kyiv against pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Crimea's Russia-backed prosecutor said Kostenko was charged with "intentional infliction of health damage" on February 8 and placed in pretrial detention for two months.
Crimean Tatar activist Iskender Kantemirov also was placed in two-month pretrial detention on February 8 on charges of taking part in “mass disorder” near the Crimean parliament in Simferopol, in February 2014.
On January 29, a deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, Ahtem Ciygoz (say: chee-GOZ) was placed in two-month pretrial detention on charges of organizing clashes outside Crimea’s parliament in February 2014.
Crimean Tatars and other pro-Ukrainian activists clashed with a pro-Russian crowd near Crimea’s parliament on February 26 – a day before armed men in unmarked uniforms seized the parliament building.
The gunmen remained in the legislature, and Russian troops were deployed across the peninsula, when lawmakers several days later voted to join Russia.
(With reporting by TASS and Interfax)
Meanwhile, in Kyiv...
Some economic info now, from our news desk:
Russia's central bank says it will buy $100 million to $200 million a day in the market to replenish its foreign currency reserves.
The bank made the announcement on May 14 after Russia's currency reserves slumped $120 billion in less than a year to its lowest level since at least 2008.
The reserves started falling in July 2014 as policy makers sought to prop up the ruble weighed down by U.S. and European sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Last year, Russia spent almost $90 billion of its reserves before abandoning its managed exchange-rate policy in November as falling oil prices exacerbated the ruble's retreat against the dollar.
But the ruble has rebounded more than 20 percent this year amid a jump in oil prices and as a cease-fire agreement in eastern Ukraine reduced the likelihood that sanctions will be deepened.
Based on reporting by dpa and Bloomberg.com