More details on the Ukrainian deputy who was attacked by a mob in Odesa. The video of the incident is above (warning: graphic content):
A deputy from the party of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was attacked and beaten by a crowd in the Black Sea resort of Odesa on September 30 during campaigning for parliamentary elections set for October 26.
Nestor Shufrych is a member of parliament from Yanukovych's Regions Party and was deputy secretary of Yanukovych's National Security and Defense Council until late 2012.
He was left bleeding from blows to the face before he was bundled into a van and driven away by his bodyguards.
A mob of about 20 attacked Shufrych as he tried to enter the main regional municipal building in Odesa. Some attackers wore masks, camouflage fatigues, and armbands of the right-wing nationalist Right Sector group.
Shufrych is a critic of Kyiv's military campaign against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
His supporters said Shufrych was campaigning on behalf of an opposition bloc running against pro-Western and Ukrainian nationalist parties.
This just in from AFP:
Russia still has hundreds of troops in Ukraine despite a "significant" force withdrawal made since Kiev and pro-Russian rebels agreed a cease-fire earlier this month, NATO said Tuesday.
After the pullback, "hundreds of Russian troops, including special forces, still remain inside Ukraine," NATO spokesman Jay Janzen said, adding that no further reduction had been seen in the past week and that some 20,000 soldiers were still deployed near the Ukrainian border.
More by our News Desk on the decision by Moscow not to participate in the FLEX program:
Russia has canceled its participation in a respected program that sends high school students from former Soviet republics to study in the United States -- a move that comes amid Western sanctions against Moscow over its role in the Ukraine crisis.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Tefft, says Russia informed Washington on September 30 that it will not participate in next year's Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program.
Tefft said: "We deeply regret this decision by the Russian government to end a program that for 21 years has built deep and strong connections between the people of Russia and the United States."
Under the program, more than 8,000 Russian high school students have lived with American familes and attended U.S. high schools.
More than 20,000 students have taken part in the program, which also involves Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazkahstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.
From our News Desk:
EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner-designate Johannes Hahn says Serbia needs to carefully consider its refusal to support EU sanctions against Russia if Belgrade hopes to join the European Union.
Hahn told the European Parliament on Tuesday that if Belgrade "is moving towards accession, the signal" on sanctions against Russia "will have to be the right one."