Another news item posted overnight by our bureau in Washington:
Vienna Court Rejects Spain's Extradition Request For Ukrainian Oligarch Firtash
A court in Vienna has decided against extraditing Ukrainian oligarch Dymitro Firtash from Austria to Spain, saying Madrid had not provided enough proof linking Firtash to alleged crimes.
Vienna's Higher Regional Court issued its decision on December 19, citing insufficient documentation linking Firtash to alleged money laundering and organized crime.
The 52-year-old billionaire faces an extradition request from the United States, where he is charged with attempting to pay $18.5 million in bribes in a bid to win mining rights in India.
Firtash has denied all the charges and says they are politically motivated and aimed at limiting his political influence in Ukraine.
Firtash was a major donor to Ukraine's former Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych before Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014.
After the mass protests that ended Yanukovych's reign, Firtash fled to Russia and later went to Austria, where he was arrested in 2014 on a U.S. warrant.
He was set free after posting bail of 125 million euros ($144 million dollars,) but was ordered not to leave Austria.
Firtash is the founder of a consortium involved in the fertilizer, titanium, and gas sectors, and is the main shareholder of one of Ukraine's most influential television channels.
Based on reporting by dpa and Kyiv Post
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item posted overnight by RFE/RL's Washington bureau:
UN Approves Measure Condemning Rights Violations In Russian-Annexed Crimea
The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution strongly condemning human rights violations in Russian-annexed Crimea and referring to Russia as an "occupying power" there.
The resolution,put forward by Ukraine and 30 other countries, was approved by 70 states. Twenty-six, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and China, voted against. Seventy-six countries abstained from voting.
Ukraine's Permanent Mission to the United Nations said that the resolution confirms there is an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia and condemns the retroactive application of Russian laws to the territory, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the resolution was the "toughest one" yet to pass the UN, which adopted its first resolution condemning human rights abuses in Crimea with a similar vote a year ago.
"The pressure on Russia is being increased," Klimkin said on Twitter.
Ukrainian diplomats at the UN said Russia, which claims that Crimeans voted to join Russia in a March 2014 referendum that has not been internationally recognized, put "enormous pressure" on UN member states to reject the resolution or abstain from voting.
Ukrainian's UN mission said the resolution condemns the compulsory naturalization of Ukrainian citizens under the Russian occupation and calls for the immediate release of unlawfully detained Ukrainians.
The measure calls for an immediate end to all rights violations, including "arbitrary detentions, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," and demands that Russia fulfill the interim decision of the International Court of Justice on the restoration of rights and freedoms for Ukrainian citizens on the peninsula.
It urges Russia to revoke its decision declaring the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar people's assembly, an extremist organization and banning its activities. It also called on Moscow to reverse other limitations imposed on Crimean Tatars.
The resolution also appeals to Russia to maintain the teaching of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages in the territory.
The measure condemns Russia for failing to provide access to Crimea for the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission while it commends Ukraine for providing unhindered access to Crimea for journalists and human rights activists, and for supporting media and non-governmental organizations that were forced out of Crimea after Russia's takeover.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked those who co-authored and voted for the resolution, calling them the "real friends of Ukrainian Crimea" in a Twitter post.