16:25
29.4.2014
From our news desk:
The head of the OSCE was in Kyiv on April 29 to discuss efforts to secure the release of a group of OSCE monitors held by pro-Russian militants.
Lamberto Zannier, the secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, met with Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya and with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.
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Zannier declined to give an update on the fate of the seven European monitors who are held in Ukraine's rebel-controlled eastern city of Slovyansk.
Pro-Russian separatists seized eight OSCE observers on April 25, describing them as "NATO spies" and "prisoners of war." One monitor was later released on medical grounds.
The OSCE monitors were in Ukraine to assess progress toward implementing an international agreement reached on April 17 in Geneva that was supposed to deescalate the crisis.
Lamberto Zannier, the secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, met with Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya and with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.
.
Zannier declined to give an update on the fate of the seven European monitors who are held in Ukraine's rebel-controlled eastern city of Slovyansk.
Pro-Russian separatists seized eight OSCE observers on April 25, describing them as "NATO spies" and "prisoners of war." One monitor was later released on medical grounds.
The OSCE monitors were in Ukraine to assess progress toward implementing an international agreement reached on April 17 in Geneva that was supposed to deescalate the crisis.
16:14
29.4.2014
An update from our news desk on the situation in Luhansk:
Several thousand pro-Russian demonstrators in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk have seized the regional administration building and the prosecutor's office.
The regional administration building was the first to fall to protesters on April 29 and afterward a group of several hundred people went to the prosecutor's building and seized it also.
There were reports some of the pro-Russian demonstrators had gone to the local television center and were storming the police station.
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchynov demanded the dismissal of the Luhansk and Donetsk police commanders.
The security situation in eastern Ukraine has been deteriorating.
The mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv Hennadiy Kernes was shot in the back on April 28.
Kernes was flown to Israel on April 29 and has successfully undergone surgery although Israeli doctors say Kernes may have to undergo a second surgery.
The regional administration building was the first to fall to protesters on April 29 and afterward a group of several hundred people went to the prosecutor's building and seized it also.
There were reports some of the pro-Russian demonstrators had gone to the local television center and were storming the police station.
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchynov demanded the dismissal of the Luhansk and Donetsk police commanders.
The security situation in eastern Ukraine has been deteriorating.
The mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv Hennadiy Kernes was shot in the back on April 28.
Kernes was flown to Israel on April 29 and has successfully undergone surgery although Israeli doctors say Kernes may have to undergo a second surgery.
16:04
29.4.2014
15:35
29.4.2014
Good post on State's DipNote:
RT is a distortion machine, not a news organization [,,,] Yet, even so, I would defend the right of RT to broadcast. The First Amendment protects speech that we reject as much as speech that we embrace.
15:26
29.4.2014
14:49
29.4.2014
Ukraine's interior minister says May 25 election may not be held in all regions:
14:45
29.4.2014
From our news desk:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denounced U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, saying the sanctions lacked "common sense."
Lavrov, speaking on a visit to Cuba on April 29, said the sanctions were the result of the West's own weak policies. (Reuters/AFP/Interfax)
Lavrov, speaking on a visit to Cuba on April 29, said the sanctions were the result of the West's own weak policies. (Reuters/AFP/Interfax)
14:44
29.4.2014
13:38
29.4.2014
Russia's most famous agent in Ukraine also enjoys military reenactments, it seems:
13:20
29.4.2014