From our newsroom:
Russia's state-owned air carrier Aeroflot is establishing a new low-cost subsidiary, one month after its discount airline Dobrolyot had to close because of EU sanctions over Ukraine.
Aeroflot said on September 16 that it had registered a subsidiary under the name Byudzhetny Perevozchik (Budget Carrier), but that the name might be changed.
Its first flight is expected on October 27.
In early August, the EU imposed sanctions against Dobrolyot because it offered flights to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula whose annexation by Russia earlier this year is rejected by the EU and the United States.
Dobrolyot began operating in May but stopped flying on August 4 after the EU sanctions prompted several European companies to annul leasing, maintenance and insurance contracts.
Russian media reports said the new airline is unlikely to offer flights to Crimea.
Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax
Party of Regions lawmaker Vitaliy Zhuravskiy joins the growing list of politicians to have been dumped into a trash container by thuggish anticorruption activists. As @IsaacDWebb points out, the police stand idly by:
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Russia has to increase its military presence in Crimea because of the crisis in Ukraine and a foreign military buildup "in the exact vicinity of our border," agencies report.
Shoigu was speaking to a meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry's board, and added that the situation in Ukraine had "dramatically deteriorated," creating the need for more Russian forces.
He said the deployment of "proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea" is one of the Russian military's top priorities.
Our Ukrainian Service quotes Shoigu describing it as "a full and self-contained contingent of troops" with respect to Crimea:
LATEST: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Russia needs to increase its military presence in Crimea because of the crisis in Ukraine. Shoigu said Russia must also respond to an increase of "foreign military" in the "immediate vicinity" of Russian borders.
A deputy from ex-President Yanukovych's Party of Regions is thrown in a trash can outside parliament: