Russia jails Crimean Tatar leader's son for five years:
A Russian court has sentenced the son of a leading Crimean Tatar figure to five years in prison for the equivalent of manslaughter, a ruling his lawyer said was illegal.
Khaiser Dzhemilev, son of veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, was arrested in May 2013 by Ukrainian authorities in connection with the shooting death of his friend. Khaiser Dzhemilev has said he shot his friend by accident.
After Crimea's annexation by Russia in March 2014, the Moscow-backed authorities took over the case and transferred him to the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. Mustafa Dzhemilev has accused Russia of holding his son hostage.
Dzhemilev faced a possible murder conviction, but a Krasnodar court on June 2 found him guilty of inflicting death by negligence, which carries a lesser sentence. He was also found guilty of stealing and possessing a firearm.
Mustafa Dzhemilev, who strongly protested the annexation of Crimea and is currently living in Kyiv, was barred in May from entering the peninsula and has claimed Russia was holding his son hostage.
The elder Dzhemilev, 71, is a member of the Ukrainian parliament and a well-known Soviet-era human rights activist. (w/ UNIAN, TASS)
Russia's NTV drops journalist after criticism of Putin, Ukraine policy:
A correspondent with Kremlin-allied NTV television says he was dropped by the network after he described Russian President Vladimir Putin as "cynical" and deviated from the Russian government’s narrative of the Ukraine conflict in an interview with a German state broadcaster.
Konstantin Goldentsvaig, a Berlin-based reporter for NTV, said on his Facebook page that he had become fed up working for the network, which he accused of disseminating "propaganda," and informed his bosses in March that he planned to quit.
But he said NTV released him early from his contract this week after his June 8 interview with a German public television station during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in southern Germany.
In the interview, Goldentsvaig said he believes Putin feels “insulted” that Russia was expelled from the group last year for its intervention in Ukraine.
Kyiv and Western countries accuse Moscow of backing separatists in a deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine, a charge the Kremlin denies despite evidence of direct military involvement.
The journalist also said Putin “has a great interest in having the situation [in Ukraine] remain unstable as long as possible, because Moscow profits from this.”
Pope urges Putin to make "sincere" effort toward peace:
The Vatican says Pope Francis has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to commit himself to a "sincere and great effort" for peace in Ukraine.
A statement issued after Francis and Putin met for about 50 minutes in the Vatican on June 10 added that the two agreed on the need to recreate a climate of dialogue and to implement the Minsk agreement, a peace deal struck in the Belarus capital earlier this year.
Putin earlier on June 10 held talks in Rome with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and in Milan with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Renzi lauded the "traditional Italian-Russian friendship" but also referring to "divergent positions" on certain issues. (Reuters, AFP, TASS)
This ends our live blogging for June 10. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.