From Reuters:
EU officials have agreed new measures to help food producers hit by a Russian ban on agricultural imports and will publish them over the coming days, the European Commission said.
Moscow in August imposed a one-year embargo on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine crisis.
EU farm exports to Russia are worth some 11 billion euros ($14.3 billion) annually, or roughly 10 percent of the bloc's agricultural sales. The Russian embargo has affected EU products worth 5 billion euros, said the Commission, the EU executive.
Following debate with representatives of the 28 member states on Tuesday, the Commission is finalising the text and budget for a new compensation scheme and expects to make an announcement in the coming days, spokesman Roger Waite said.
"Official publication is expected early next week, with new rules entering into force straight away," he said.
Waite said he could not yet give a figure for the budget.
Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has told the government that 1 million civil servants will be screened under the so-called lustration law to fight corruption and rid the system of people loyal to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in February.
Some images from the Right Sector demo today that we mentioned earlier:
Nationalist Other Russia leader Eduard Limonov has suggested fellow oppositionist Boris Nemtsov should be lynched in Crimea, according to a report by the pro-Kremlin "Vzglyad" website. (The headline and lead suggest he also said Nemtsov's citizenship should be revoked, but there's no direct quote to that effect.) He accused Nemtsov and his ilk of "hatred toward his own people."
Nemtsov reportedly suggested recently that if he became president of Russia he would return annexed Crimea to Ukraine.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said that Kyiv will not "legitimize" the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics," Interfax reports.
He also suggested that only parts of eastern Ukraine fully under national control will be rebuilt at government expense, according to the same agency.
Interfax reports that around 300 supporters of the nationalist Right Sector Party are picketing in front of a presidential-administration building in an effort to persuade President Poroshenko not to sign the bills granting "special status" to parts of Donetsk and Luhansk and offering amnesty for non-serious crimes in eastern Ukraine.
Wonder if they know that Poroshenko is in Canada.