More on Crimean wine as well:
Kyiv is threatening to take legal action over the decision by a leading winemaker in Russian-annexed Ukraine to put 13,000 vintage bottles up for auction.
Oleksandr Liev, a Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry official, told AFP December 29 that the winemaker, Massandra, was "squandering Ukrainian heritage" and that Kyiv could launch a criminal probe into the action.
He warned that Russian and foreign collectors buying the vintage wines could face "international sanctions for illegal economic actions in annexed Crimea."
Massandra is offering the wines, some of which date from 1935, for sale at the winery and online.
The legendary Crimean winemaker was already at the center of a scandal in September when Russian President Vladimir Putin and ex-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi reportedly drank a $100,000 bottle of 240-year-old sherry from the winery's archive collection.
Here's an update from our news desk on Merkel, Hollande, Putin, and Poroshenko's talks on the cease-fire in the east:
The leaders of Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine have renewed their support for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine during phone discussions between them.
The office of the French presidency said in a statement on December 30 that the four leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to the "concerted withdrawal without delay of heavy weapons."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reportedly spoke by phone for two hours in their first discussions since meeting in Paris on October 2.
The four leaders emphasized the need to follow through on the Minsk peace accords over the coming year, including preparations for local elections at the start of 2017 in areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels.
The French president's office also said that the foreign ministers from the four countries are due to meet to discuss the peace process in greater detail by early February.
(Reuters, AFP)
And speaking of the cease-fire, here is a map of the situation in the Donbas conflict zone, courtesy of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
