From our news desk:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that Ukraine's parliamentary elections later this month will help bring stability to the country.
Addressing the annual Russia Calling investment conference in Moscow on October 2, Putin said economic and political stability in Ukraine was in Russia's interests.
The Russian president said Moscow wanted a "predictable" and "reliable" relationship with Ukraine and that he regards the former Soviet republic as Russia's "most brotherly" nation.
The elections to the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada are scheduled for October 26.
Government forces and pro-Russian separatist continue to battle in eastern Ukraine despite a September 5 cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 3,000 people since April. (Reuters and Interfax)
A widow of a Russian officer who died in fighting in #Donbas Ukraine: "He wasn't a volunteer" http://t.co/Mfukc1oknL pic.twitter.com/SQu2g5iEvL
— Nataliya Gumenyuk (@ngumenyuk) October 1, 2014
Meanwhile, this just in from RFE/RL's Belarus Service:
Belarusian citizens fighting in Ukraine's east on either side of the conflict will be jailed.
Belarusian KGB chief Valery Vakulchyk told journalists in Minsk on October 2 that any Belarusians found to have fought in Ukraine will be defined as "mercenaries," who are banned under Belarusian law.
People in Belarus found to have acted as a mercenary can be sentenced to up to seven years in jail.
Media reports in Belarus said in August that some individuals have been recruiting people in Belarus to fight for pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
There were also reports of Belarusian volunteers fighting for Ukraine against the separatists.
Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east for six months.
Life And Death In The Foxholes For Front-Line Troops In Ukraine -- this powerful video from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service is well worth a watch, particularly if you are interested in the sort of conditions soldiers are enduring at the front:
RFE/RL's Tom Balmforth has been reporting on how Ukrainian activists intent on pursuing a post Euromaidan purge of corrupt officials have been doing the so-called "Trash-Bucket Challenge:"
Impatient with unsigned lustration legislation, activists from groups like the ultranationalist Right Sector have been tossing officials in trash containers -- and sometimes beating them, too -- to signal disgust at the officials' ties to the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych, their alleged corruption, or their supposed support for separatists in the country’s east.
The latest target? Nestor Shufrych, a lawmaker from ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, who has condemned Ukraine’s military campaign against pro-Russian rebels in the war-torn east.
Shufrych arrived on September 30 in the Black Sea city of Odesa for a campaign press conference ahead of October 26 parliamentary elections.
Shufrych was beaten, his face bloodied, and his shirt torn off outside a regional administration building by a mob of more than a dozen activists wearing masks, including members of Right Sector. He fled to his minivan before the crowd could toss him into a trash container, receiving little help from police in the process.
Read the entire article here
Live stream pointed at Donetsk airport. Smoke. https://t.co/i24KVk9vNX
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) October 2, 2014
Big assault there today. Ukrainians have held that place doggedly for months. Not clear how long they can cling on. http://t.co/OWLTP6lI12
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) October 2, 2014
Here's Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday denying that Moscow is going to curb Internet access. Russian speakers will notice that he slurs his words as he speaks. Maybe he was tired...
Some economics news now (from RFE/RL's news desk):
The World Bank says the Ukrainian economy is likely to contract by 8 percent this year due to the crisis in the country's east caused by a separatist uprising.
The World Bank said today that it is downgrading an earlier forecast of a 5 percent decline in the economy in 2014.
It added that it is predicting a further contraction in Ukraine's economy in 2015.
Qimiao Fan, the World Bank's director for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, said in Kyiv that "disruption in economic activity in the east has resulted in a sharper GDP [gross domestic product] decline than we expected."
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin has says his country remains committed to developing an open market economy.
Addressing the annual "Russia Calling" investment conference in Moscow today, Putin said Russia also remains committed to the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Putin, whose country has been hit with Western sanctions over its actions in Ukraine, added that this was unlike some countries that founded the organization.
The Russian president also said Moscow doesn't plan to introduce restrictions on cross-border capital and currency movements, following a dramatic slide in the value of the ruble.
He said Russia aims to "actively" use national currencies in trade deals with China and other countries, implying a shift away from the U.S. dollar.
Putin added that the state will help sectors and companies that are being affected by sanctions.
(Reuters, AFP, TASS, Interfax)
Donetsk, now. pic.twitter.com/E5Q7l9Af7w
— Paul Gypteau (@paulgypteau) October 2, 2014