Via our newsroom:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to draft a response to sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia over its perceived backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said the government must make sure the retaliatory measures do not hurt Russians.
In comments on August 5, Putin said that "political instruments of pressure on the economy are unacceptable. They contradict all norms and rules."
He said the government had already preposed a number of response measures to the Western sanctions, adding that "in current conditions, in order to ensure the interests of our producers, we could very well think about this now."
The latest round of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union last week target Russia's oil and defense industry, while restricting the access of Russian state-owned banks to Western financial markets.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, Interfax
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul (@McFaul) and the Russian Foreign Ministry (@MFA_Russia) are debating Ukraine situation right now via Twitter:
More on the growing dispute between Russian authorities and BBC's Russian Service over a planned protest targeting Putin's policies vis-a-vis Ukraine, via AFP:
Russia threatened Tuesday to block the website of the BBC's Russian Service because it reported an activist's public appeal to get people to attend a rally mocking Moscow's policy in Ukraine.
The BBC last week ran an interview with Artyom Loskutov -- an artist who has developed a reputation for performances that poke fun at the Kremlin -- promoting a demonstration in favour of giving Siberia more rights within Russia.
The idea had been making the rounds in opposition circles for weeks because it offered a seemingly legal way to mock Moscow's call for decentralisation in Ukraine to support ethnic Russians there while keeping tight control at home.
Beginning today, if you want local mobile-phone service in major swaths of Crimea, you've got to get it through a Russian operator, reports RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Reuters caught up with a disenchanted separatist in eastern Ukraine. Here's an excerpt:
Wearing a camouflage uniform and touting a Kalashnikov rifle, Aleksander told Reuters there was in fact "no political leadership" left in the separatist movement after locals, including the "people's governor" of Donetsk Pavel Gubarev, were pushed aside by Russians.
He was speaking in Donetsk, the largest city in the hands of the rebels where they have vowed to make a stand against government forces. Security officials in Kiev say their troops are preparing to "storm" the city.
Tensions among the rebels have been growing since government troops pushed them out of Slaviansk, a former bastion of resistance, on July 4-5.
Locals including Gubarev have been increasingly sidelined from decision-making or dismissed since then and more Russians have joined the fray - a response to slow but steady progress made by the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions on the ground.
Our news desk has clarified the UN Ukrainian refugees number as coming from Russian estimates:
The UN refugee agency says at least 285,000 people have fled their homes because of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
UNHCR's European director Vincent Cochetel said local Ukrainian authorities had so far registered some 117,000 people leaving the east for other regions of Ukraine.
Cochetel told reporters in Geneva that the number "is in our view a low estimate," since most men fleeing failed to register to avoid being drafted into the Ukrainian Army and sent back to the conflict zone.
Cochetel said that, in addition, around 168,000 Ukrainians had as of August 1 applied to Russian authorities for asylum, refugee, and other kinds of protective status such as temporary residence permits.
The total of at least 285,000 displaced people marks a 24 percent jump from figures provided by the UNHCR last month.
Cochetel said that, according to Russian authorities, some 730,000 Ukrainians have gone to Russia since January under the country's visa-free regime, without registering.
Cochetel said, "we believe that number is credible." (with additional reporting by AFP and Reuters)