More details on the SCO statement, from our newsroom:
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has backed a cease-fire deal agreed for eastern Ukraine last week and called for talks to continue until the conflict is resolved.
The call for a negotiated settlement of the conflict between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists came in a declaration adopted on September 12 at a summit of the regional grouping comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and host Tajikistan.
In a swipe at the United States, the SCO leaders also condemned any unilateral buildup of missile defense systems.
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia, which assumed the group's rotating presidency, will seek to boost the SCO's role in preserving regional stability.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said China, which has used the group to expand ties with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, will provide a $5 billion loan to finance joint SCO projects.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
From ITAR-TASS:
A second Russian humanitarian convoy will head for Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, on September 13, the press center of Novorossia, the union of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics, said on Friday.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, on Facebook vowed that his country would not hand over "Mustang Wanted," the urban climber who confessed to painting the spire in blue-and-gold and flying a Ukrainian flag above a Moscow skyscraper last month. Herashchenko cited a Russian media report that said Russia had issued an international warrant for the arrest of the daredevil patriot -- said to be called Pavel Ushevets.
"This is a hero of Ukraine," Herashchenko said.
Herashchenko added that the Russian media "lied" and that, in fact, there is no Interpol warrant for the climber but rather a CIS one. Moreover, he said, Article 25 of the Ukrainian Constitution forbids authorities from handing over its citizens to foreign governments for prosecution.
Here is an excerpt from a report by RAPSInews:
“Pavel Ushevets and his fans should know that we will not surrender our Mustang or any other Ukrainian citizen to Russia,” Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook Friday.
He added that Ushevets planned to change his family and given names, and that the Ukrainian officials would help him do this.
A lawyer of Alexander Pogrebov, one of the six suspects in the case, said the Mustang had been placed on the international wanted list under the same charges as those presented to the other defendants: vandalism and hooliganism, which carry a maximum term of seven years in prison.
Four young people – Alexander Shirokozhukh, Alexander Pogrebov, Yevgenia Korotkova and Anna Lepyoshkina – with special climbing equipment were detained in the aftermath of the incident, charged with hooliganism and placed on house arrest.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammudin Tun Husein speaking at a news conference today in Sepang, Malaysia.
"I can say categorically from my discussions with my counterparts in Russia and representatives from the foreign ministry of Russia, that they too want transparency. They too want to see justice. They too want an investigation that is done thoroughly to make sure that whoever is responsible is brought to justice."
"The bigger problems that we face in finding a cease-fire for Ukraine and Russia and eastern Ukraine, also applies to our crash site. But if we can achieve this -- I think this is an achievement that requires commitment, impartiality, and transparency."