People around the world are responding to Russia's ban on virtually all Polish fruit -- ostensibly for health and documentation violations but widely regarded as tit-for-tat over EU sanctions -- with #eatapples activism:
No fresh starts here.
Also see our story on the bogus Tefft social-media accounts that have already arisen and/or been shut down: "Sham Twitter Feed Of U.S. 'Ambassador' To Russia Blocked."
Ukraine's Interior Ministry says two guardsmen policemen were found shot in the Donetsk region. (I can't get to the link, so unclear to me if these are the same two men reported here.)
Our Ukrainian service with more on the statement by ex-President Leonid Kuchma, who was present in Belarus yesterday on Ukraine's behalf for the trilateral talks with Russia and the OSCE, suggesting 20 more of the soldiers detained by separatists during fighting in eastern Ukraine could be released under a deal reached by the so-called contact group.
More on the football flap as Russia tries to absorb Crimean squads, from AP. It smells like trouble:
Football clubs from the Crimea region annexed by Russia will play in the Russian leagues this season.
Three clubs will play in the second division south, a third-tier Russian league, the Russian Football Union said in a statement. The move could bring Russia into conflict with UEFA and FIFA.
The three clubs were SKChF Sevastopol, Zhemchuzhina Yalta, and Tavria Simferopol, which shares its name with a former Ukrainian champion club, but is a new entity.
The former Tavria club was renowned as a hotbed of pro-Ukraine sentiment in Crimea, especially among its hardcore supporters.