RFE/RL's Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak has just sent us this item:
European Union ambassadors have agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months over its role in the Ukraine conflict.
The agreement on December 18 means sanctions will stay in place until July 31, 2016 against Russia's financial, oil, and military sectors-- as well as against specific individuals linked to the Ukraine conflict.
The recommendation by EU ambassadors faces a final, formal ratification process at noon Central Euuropean time on December 21.
The sanctions were first imposed in July and September 2014 in response to the annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula by the Kremlin and Moscow’s support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Without an extension, the existing sanctions would expire on January 31.
(With additional reporting by AP and AFP)
Svitlana Prokopyeva and Tony Wesolowsky have written a report for RFE/RL on how Russia seems to be pulling up the welcome mat when it comes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict there:
PSKOV, Russia -- Svitlana Moroz, her two sons, and her elderly mother have lived in the spartan Sport hotel in Pskov, in western Russia, for nearly a year and a half now.
But they and hundreds more like them who fled the fighting at home in eastern Ukraine could soon be out on the streets after Moscow in November adopted tougher new rules for the refugees.
In the past, those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas region could live in so-called temporary accommodation points (TAP) -- mostly rundown hotels like the Sport -- for as long as it took them to get back on their feet. Now, as of November 1, those stays in TAPs will be limited to 60 days, as will daily allowances.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a point of warmly welcoming Ukrainian refugees in large part to demonstrate Kremlin concern at the plight of Russian speakers, who Moscow claimed were suffering persecution under the new authorities in Ukraine.
But Moscow is in a less generous mood these days, as the Russian economy sags under the weight of depressed global oil prices and international sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine, including the forced annexation of Crimea and alleged support for armed separatists.
And the refugees are becoming a drag on Russia's federal budget. According to official data, 16,418 Ukrainian citizens who fled the conflict are still living in temporary housing in Russia. Quick math suggests that Moscow is spending nearly 400 million rubles ($5.7 million) a month to house them, not a paltry sum. Every refugee is also entitled to 800 rubles ($11.34) a day as a subsistence allowance.
Read the entire article here.
Here's something Ukraine-watchers probably should bookmark:
Some nice footage of the Veep's recent trip to the Ukrainian capital:
Even Ukraine's foreign minister seems to be jumping on the Star Wars bandwagon: