Good morning. We will start today's live blog with this report from RFE/RL's news desk on where Moscow might find alternative sources for the food items affected by its embargo:
Russian officials have made plans with South American countries to boost food imports to replace those lost in Moscow's ban on food produced in the United States, Australia, Canada, Norway, and EU countries.
Andres Rebolledo, the head of Chile's trade organization Direcon, said that he and officials from other Latin American embassies met with Russian officials about increasing food exports.
The sanctions announced by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev yesterday -- banning fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy products from about 32 countries -- came only days after Moscow signed deals with two dozen Brazilian poultry companies and five pork producers.
Russia's food embargo was launched in retaliation against those countries' sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Chilean official Rebolledo said Russian officials pledged to provide a list of products that they hoped Chile could provide to Russia.
(Reuters, AFP)
This ends our live-blogging for August 7. Be sure and check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.
RFE/RL asked Russian tourists in Prague what they thought about Moscow's embargo on most food imports from the United States and the European Union. The action was taken in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. (RFE/RL's Russian Service)
From our news desk:
Ukraine's military says pro-Russian separatists have shot down a Ukrainian military jet.
Military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said the plane crashed some 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Donetsk, the main separatist stronghold.
He said the pilot had ejected safely after he managed to steer the plane away from a residential area. A search-and-rescue mission is currently under way for the pilot.
The Ukrainian military has lost a string of aircraft during four months of fighting against pro-Russian rebels in the east.
Last month, a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel-held territory, allegedly by the separatists, killing 298 people.
The head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Valentin Nalivaychenko, on August 7 said the separatists had wanted to bring down a Russian airliner to create a pretext for a Russian invastion. (UNIAN, AFP)
The latest report by the OSCE's monitoring team in eastern Ukraine: