Russia's court hearings in the case of jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko will resume on September 15, according to her lawyer Nikolai Polozov.
The court in Donetsk in Russia's Rostov-on-Don region published a statement on its website saying that the defense's request to relocate the hearings to Moscow was denied.
"Next date of the preliminary hearing on the criminal case against Savchenko is scheduled for September 15 at 11 a.m.," the court's statement says, which Polozov tweeted.
The hearing will be closed and "to ensure the safety of the participants," access to the courthouse will be limited.
Here is a map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (click image to enlarge):
Some developments in the Oleh Sentsov case:
Lawyers of Oleh Sentsov, the Crimean film director whom Russia sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly masterminding "terrorist attacks," has lodged an appeal against the verdict with the Russian Supreme Court.
One of Sentsov's advocates, Dmitry Dinze. wrote on Facebook that they had appealed to the Supreme Court although they did not yet have a date for the hearing. He added that they intended to take Sentsov's case to the European Court of Human Rights as well.
Dinze also stated that a different hearing will be held on September 9 in Moscow, where Sentsov's lawyers have taken a case against the Russia's federal security service, the FSB, for publishing a "false press release" about their client.
Sentsov and his lawyers maintain that his conviction was politically motivated due to his vocal opposition to Russia's forcible annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Here's an item from our news desk:
Russia says the establishment of six NATO hubs along the alliance's eastern flank will "feed the artificially created climate of confrontation" in relations with Moscow.
Russia's envoy to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, said in Brussels on September 4 that the opening this month of the small NATO centers reaffirms that "the alliance's military machinery has been retooled to the task of warding off a mythical threat from the East."
The alliance says the new NATO Force Integration Units (NFIU) were established in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania to help on the ground with exercises and planning activities.
NATO has been stepping up its role in Eastern Europe to deter potential aggressors and reassure its allies in light of the conflict in Ukraine, where Russia has been condemned for annexing Crimea and backing pro-Moscow separatists in the Donbas region.
(Interfax, TASS)