Here's a Crimea-related update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says at least five people are still missing after "hostile encounters" in the annexed Crimea region that contribute to an "atmosphere of fear and hostility for anyone who is pro-Ukraine, including Crimean Tatars."
HRW made the announcement after Edem Asanov, a Crimean Tatar missing since September 29, was found dead.
It said the five had been "forcefully disappeared".
They included Islam Dzhepparov and Dzhevdet Islamov, two young Crimean Tatars who disappeared on September 27 after being bundled into a minivan by men in black uniforms.
The others are three pro-Ukraine activists, one of them a Crimean Tatar, who disappeared in late May after they said they had hostile encounters with pro-Russian militants.
HRW said other Crimean Tatars have been found dead, with signs of torture, since the peninsula's annexation by Russia in March.
"Ceasefire in Ukraine is a Mirage" http://t.co/7bSCFPtRlN
— Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (@JSaryuszWolski) October 7, 2014
Me: "Is this a ceasefire?" DNR commander "Botsman": "This is the start of WWIII…"
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) October 7, 2014
Some more economics data via our news desk:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its forecast for global economic growth for 2014-2015.
Citing risks from the Ukrainian crisis, strife in the Middle East, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Washington-based organization on October 7 is now forecasting 3.3 percent growth in 2014 and 3.8 percent in 2015.
The IMF said, "An escalation in geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, resulting in a tightening of sanctions against Russia, could entail a serious setback" for the former Soviet Union.
Russia's already battered economy is expected to grow by 0.2 percent in 2014 and 0.5 percent next year, with a knock-on effect being felt by economies reliant on trade with Moscow.
The Ukrainian economy is predicted to shrink by 6.5 percent this year and only recover 1 percent in 2015.
(AFP, BBC)
Ukraine to start tackling corruption through national system of AC Bodies? Laws in first reading adopted http://t.co/MdCTXgbvma
— UNDPUkraine (@UNDPUkraine) October 7, 2014
Carrying water in Shaktyorsk, deep inside DNR territory. Most of town still without basic supplies. pic.twitter.com/GG9hRblR01
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) October 6, 2014
this is insane: a rebel 'republic' in Eastern Ukraine reportedly has voted to execute & jail homosexuals http://t.co/8StDjVqLmV
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) October 7, 2014
From our news desk:
Five government soldiers have been killed and 28 wounded in the past day in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said on October 7 the latest casualties bring to 956 the number of servicemen killed since the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government troops began in April.
Meanwhile, officials in the eastern rebel-run regions of Luhansk and Donetsk said seven civilians died in the latest fighting.
Clashes continued in Ukraine despite the signing of a September 5 cease-fire agreement.
The heaviest clashes are reported around the rebel-held city of Donetsk, where government forces are holding on to the airport.
Also on October 7, Berlin said a convoy of 112 trucks carrying German aid crossed into Ukraine from Poland.
The aid includes mobile kitchens, heating gear, generators, winter clothing, and blankets.
Worn on clothes, portrayed as Hercules, and adorned by singing children. Our Moscow correspondent Tom Balmforth gives a rundown of what's planned for Putin's birthday.
An excerpt from the Reuters story "Floods Of Ukrainian Refugees Seek New Life In Russia" by Olesya Astakhova:
BELGOROD, Russia -- After three days trapped in a cellar by shelling, Svetlana and Sergei Divenko left their home in eastern Ukraine and fled to Russia with their two children and a single bag.
The two-day, 250-km car journey from the city of Slovyansk to the quiet provincial city of Belgorod in June was the most hazardous of their life, taking them across territory hit by fighting and through six checkpoints.
"My son may never pick up a toy gun again. The children had guns pointed at them at checkpoints. They were pale with fear," said Svetlana Divenko, a 28-year-old housewife.
But like many other Russian-speaking east Ukrainians, discontent with the economic situation at home and resentful of Ukraine's Western-looking leaders, the Divenko family headed to Russia not only to seek safety but in search of a better life.
The United Nations says more than 1 million people have been displaced by the conflict. A Russian immigration official last week also put the number of Ukrainian refugees now in Russia at 1 million although Ukrainian officials say the number is vastly exaggerated by Moscow for political reasons.
Read the full story here.