RFE/RL's Tom Balmforth asked residents of Moscow if they were concerned about the new round of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine. Most of the respondents said they thought the sanctions would have little effect on the Russian economy. They also expressed regret at the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West.
From our newsroom:
A top official in the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine has reportedly been killed in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region.
According to a Facebook post by Russian Eurasianist ideologue Aleksandr Dugin on August 1, 32-year-old Aleksandr Proselkov was killed by gunfire the previous day as he "accompanied a convoy of humanitarian aid" to Donetsk.
Proselkov was the de facto deputy foreign minister of the breakaway Ukrainian region and an aide to its self-proclaimed leader, Pavel Gubarev.
Ukrainian military officials said Proselkov was killed by "friendly fire" from militants and mercenaries from the breakaway "Luhansk People's Republic."
Dugin speculated Proselkov may have been killed by supporters of rival Russian nationalist political adviser Sergei Kurginyan because of his support for the breakaway regions' military commander, Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov). ("The Kyiv Post" and lenta.ru)
President Vladimir Putin today at the unveiling of a monument to Russian soldiers who fell in World War I. We'll post them here on this Ukraine Crisis blog...well, for obvious reasons:
"[World War I] reminds us of the consequences of aggression and self-aggrandizement, when the excessive ambitions of state leaders and political elites taking precedence over common sense. And instead of protecting the most prosperous continent of the world -- Europe -- plunged it into danger. It is good to remember this today."
"There are many examples in world history of what the terrible price to be paid for an unwillingness to listen to one another, for trampling the rights and freedoms and legal interests of others for the sake of their own interests and ambitions. It wouldn't be bad to learn how to look and plan at least one step ahead."
"Is it high time for humanity to understand and accept the most important truth: violence brings violence, and the path to peace and prosperity is composed of good will and dialogue and the memory of the lessons of past wars -- about who and why were started."
AFP photo shows a nurse at a Zaporizhzhya field hospital for Ukrainian troops emptying a bucket of blood onto the ground.
