A report from our news desk:
The trial of Ukrainian pilot and parliament member Nadia Savchenko, who has been jailed in Russia since July 2014, may start within weeks, her lawyer said.
Ilya Novikov said on July 2 that Savchenko and her defense team had certified that she had finished reviewing the criminal case material and the preliminary hearing may be held in late July or early August.
Savchenko says she was illegally brought into Russia after being abducted by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
She is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died in the Ukraine conflict, as well as illegal border crossing.
Savchenko denies the charges and says Russia has no right to detain her.
The West has repeatedly called for her immediate release.
A Moscow court on June 10 extended Savchenko's pretrial detention until September 10.
Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS
A demonstration was held in Kyiv calling for "freedom for the prisoners of the gulag."
Historian Timothy Garton-Ash on what guides Putin.
Russia 'Alarmed' By Kyiv's Refusal To Negotiate With Rebels
Russia says Ukraine's failure to agree with separatists on implementing a peace deal is "alarming."
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on July 3 that the Kyiv authorities have “routinely demonstrated their inability to come to an agreement."
Lavrov said proposed changes to Ukraine's constitution did not honor a "single requirement" of the peace deal signed in Minsk in February.
He urged the West to pressure Ukrainian authorities to honor the peace deal, saying they were "torpedoing" the agreement and refusing to directly negotiate with rebels.
Separatists in eastern Ukraine have complained they had not been consulted over Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's proposed constitutional changes, and announced plans to hold local elections in October, sparking criticism in Kyiv.
Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
Putin Says Sanctions Fail To Split Russian Society
President Vladimir Putin says Western efforts to split Russian society with economic sanctions have failed to yield expected results.
Addressing the Russian Security Council on July 3, Putin said the West wants to punish Russia for its independent course.
"We are pursuing an independent domestic and foreign policy; we are not selling our sovereignty," Putin said. “Not everyone likes that, but it cannot be otherwise.
"We shouldn't expect some of our geopolitical opponents to revise their unfriendly course in the foreseeable future," he added.
Putin also ordered that Russia's national security strategy be updated.
The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions that have restricted Russia's access to capital markets and banned transfers of military and energy technologies.
The move came in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and its support for pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.
Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax
Separatists Withdraw From Ukrainian Coastal Towns
Pro-Russian separatists have withdrawn from Sakhanka, Shyrokyne, and other nearby towns on the Sea of Azov. Visiting one town with OSCE observers, rebel leaders called on Ukrainian government forces to demilitarize the coastal region as well.
