A Russian court has rejected Oleksandr Kostenko’s application for parole citing his denial of legally absurd charges and the fact that he was placed in a punishment cell (on the pretext that he hadn’t greeted a prison official). The refusal to release a recognized political prisoner was not unexpected, however the grounds given have been rejected by Russia’s own Supreme Court and an appeal will be lodged.
Eight Ukrainian soldiers wounded:
Ukraine’s military says eight soldiers have been wounded in fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country over the past 24 hours.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on April 13 that all eight were injured in fighting in the Donetsk region, where 53 "hostile attacks" were registered since the previous day.
Lysenko said there had been 29 incidents of shelling around Mariupol, a strategic city on the shores of the Azov Sea. No injuries were reporting in those incidents.
The news comes amid rising concerns over cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 since April 2014.
On April 11, the French Foreign Ministry said it was "not acceptable" that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were being targeted close to the contact line.
"The situation can only be stabilized by the full application of the Minsk agreement," it said, referring to the peace deal backed by Kyiv, its Western allies, and Moscow.
OSCE monitors have been tasked with monitoring the cease-fire, a key element of the Minsk agreement.
A spokesperson for EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini on April 10 condemned the recent incidents targeting OSCE observers as "unacceptable," calling on all sides to "refrain from such actions." (Interfax)
Er, OK.....
Ukraine says Russian agents posed as Poroshenko for fake interview with The New York Times