From our newsroom:
A group of Russian human rights activists plans to protest today against the trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who was abducted in eastern Ukraine and smuggled to Russia to face charges of participating in the killing of two Russian journalists.
The protest was to take the form of a series of one-person pickets to avoid violating Russia's strict laws on public gatherings, and was being organized through social networks.
Savchenko is being held in Moscow's Serbsky psychiatric hospital, where she is undergoing psychiatric examinations.
On October 18, one of Savchenko's lawyers, Nikolai Polozov, wrote on Twitter that the pilot is being subjected to sleep deprivation at the hospital.
"All night long, a prison official sits in her doorway and watches her. We regard this as torture," Polozov wrote.
On October 13, Moscow's Basmanny District Court postponed the next hearing in the case, which will focus on defense objections, until November 11.
Reuters and TASS quote the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, as saying the bloc's Foreign Affairs Council will meet today to discuss the status of the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and a possible review of EU sanctions against Russia.
Ashton, speaking on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said the council would "analyze the situation and decide what our next steps will be."
The European Union has previously said that Russia's practical aid in fulfilling the provisions of the September 5 Minsk agreements and in establishing stability in Ukraine are the main factors to be considered in connection with a partial or complete easing of sanctions against Russia.
RT propagating an anonymously sourced tip from Russian defense circles suggesting whatever submarine the Swedes are trying to track down in waters off Stockholm "is probably Dutch." There is no evidence presented aside from the Russian denial that one of their subs is involved and the "source in the Russian Defense Ministry" pointing a finger at the Dutch.
That report is obligingly followed by a similar one ("BREAKING") by RIA Novosti:
Some unnerving photos from an event held in Kharkiv yesterday called "Defend Your Country."
Today's map from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council:
Czech polling in mid-September suggested some 70 percent of Czech firms agree with Western sanctions against Russia in light of events in Ukraine and in order to promote democracy. Czech government officials have been far more cautious in their public statements.