Berlusconi met Putin in Crimea:
Former Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine Black Sea region of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014.
Berlusconi arrived on September 11 in the resort city of Yalta for a "private visit." He had spent the previous two days in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
He met with Putin at a memorial to soldiers who died during the Crimean War outside of Sevastopol, home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
On September 9, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a meeting was likely, noting that the two men have "long-standing business and personal relations."
Berlusconi is expected to return to Italy on September 13.
Earlier this summer, a delegation of French parliament deputies visited the annexed peninsula.
The United States, the European Union, and most of the rest of the world do not recognize Crimea as part of Russia. (Interfax, TASS)
President Petro Poroshenko said there is a connection between Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and the deadly clash of protesters with law enforcement on August 31.
“Internal instability is closely related to the events in the east, it is fueled by pro-Russian forces, as well as radical forces. Of course, it worries me a lot. But what is the main positive (aspect)? The Ukrainian people are on the side of the National Guard members, who gave their lives defending the Ukrainian parliament. Everywhere we have a sharp condemnation of radical forces’ actions,” said Poroshenko during Yes Ukraine Forum, which began in Kyiv today.
He said that the fact that so many had brought flowers to the site where the three National Guard members died proved Ukrainians’ adherence to European values and their responsibility.
“I am proud to be the leader of this people,” Poroshenko said.
On August 31, a parliamentary vote on decentralization prompted a demonstration that turned deadly when a grenade was hurled into the ranks of riot police guarding the building, killing three National Guard members.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
