Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from our news desk on the fallout from the referendum in the Netherlands.
Dutch Premier Predicts 'Months' Of Talks Over EU-Ukraine Pact
The Dutch vote against an agreement to strengthen ties between the European Union and Ukraine could lead to lengthy negotiations over changes in the pact, the Netherlands' premier said.
"It could be months before a solution will be found," since many different parties are involved, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the Dutch news agency ANP on April 8.
"It's a complex process. It's uncharted waters," he later told a press conference at the Hague.
Dutch voters by 61 percent to 38 percent rejected the pact with Ukraine on April 6, though only 32 percent of eligible voters participated in the referendum.
The vote was not legally binding, so the Dutch government is not required to follow the preference of voters. But Rutte has said he cannot ignore the overwhelmingly negative sentiment.
Still, experts expect large parts of the agreement to be implemented without the Netherlands or with negotiated changes. The EU's 27 other members have ratified the pact and it went into effect in January.
The Dutch parliament, which originally ratified the pact, will revisit the issue next week and should take the vote into account, Rutte said.
Based on reporting by dpa and AFP
This ends our live blogging for April 8. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Russia looking into possible transfer of jailed Sentsov to Ukraine:
By RFE/RL
The Russian Justice Ministry says it is looking into a request from Kyiv to transfer filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and three other Ukrainian convicts to Ukraine.
In a statement on April 8, the Justice Ministry said it had requested the Federal Penitentiary Service to prepare documents for such a prisoner transfer.
However, the ministry cautioned that any decision to hand over Sentsov, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Oleksandr Kolchenko, and Yuriy Soloshenko would be made by Russian courts.
According to the ministry, the process was launched after Russia received a request from Ukraine on March 10.
A Russian court convicted Sentsov and Kolchenko on terrorism charges in August 2015 and sentenced them to 20 and 10 years in prison, respectively.
Afanasyev was sentenced to seven years in jail on the same charges in April 2015.
All strongly denied the charges.
Critics have dismissed such cases as a sham to punish the defendants for their pro-Ukrainian stance. (w/Interfax)