Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item that our news desk filed overnight:
Ukrainian Lawyer For Russian Prisoner Says Kyiv Leaders Libeled Her
The Ukrainian lawyer for former Russian prisoner Yevgeny Yerofeyev has filed a libel lawsuit against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios.
The suit filed by attorney Oksana Sokolovska on June 10 demands that Poroshenko retract an allegedly false claim that she dragged out the procedure of setting her client Yerofeyev free to delay a prisoner swap of Yerofeyev and another Russian prisoner, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, for Ukrainian military aviator Nadia Savchenko, who was imprisoned in Russia.
The suit says Poroshenko made that statement at a news conference on June 3. The prisoner exchange occurred on May 25.
Sokolovska said the claim has been detrimental to her business reputation and dignity. She is demanding that Poroshenko call a news conference to withdraw the claim.
The lawsuit is also demanding the retraction of a televised statement by Matios, charging that the lawyer had coordinated her actions with Russia's State Security Service, the FSB.
It demands information about any unauthorized investigations of her by Ukrainian authorities as well as $4,000 in compensation for "moral damage."
Matios told the Ukrainian Channel 5 TV station that he is prepared to prove the lawsuit is groundless.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
There was some trouble in Lviv yesterday. RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has sent us this video:
Tear Gas and Clashes At Lviv City Hall
Activists in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv clashed with police inside City Hall. Angered by a landfill issue, they attempted to storm into a session of city council on June 9.
Here's a news item written by RFE/RL's Washington bureau:
Russian Opposition Lawmaker Who Opposed Crimea Annexation Stripped Of Mandate
Russia’s State Duma has stripped Ilya Ponomaryov of his parliamentary mandate in the latest move taken against the opposition lawmaker.
The lower house, which is dominated by lawmakers from the Kremlin-backed United Russia party, voted 413-3 to pass the widely expected measure.
The lone Russian lawmaker to vote against the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, Ponomaryov had already been stripped last year of his legal immunity.
That paved the way for a criminal investigation into allegations that Ponomaryov had embezzled money from the state-funded Skolkovo technological foundation, something he has repeatedly denied.
Ponomaryov, who now spends much of his time in Ukraine and the United States, told RFE/RL in Washington that the vote was taken in anticipation of parliamentary elections scheduled for September.
“That is a demonstration for future deputies to come, that they should be loyal and, especially in questions of foreign policy, they should never confront the president,” he said.