RFE/RL's news desk has issued this item from our Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak:
BRUSSELS -- European Union ambassadors on October 28 decided to keep in place all existing EU sanctions that have been imposed against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
When the sanctions were imposed, EU member states decided to review Russia’s actions toward Ukraine at the end of October -- holding out the possibility that sanctions could be ramped up or scaled down.
Leaders of countries like Italy and Hungary have said that the sanctions do not work and should be eased or lifted.
But all member states must agree in order to change the sanctions regime.
EU members are far from agreeing on lifting the sanctions – with some countries, such as Lithuania, saying that sanctions against Russia sound be tightened even further.
And here's another news desk item, this time on those controversial Mistral warships:
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Drian said today that Paris will wait until November to decide whether to deliver a new warship to Russia.
In September, after fierce criticism from NATO allies, France suspended delivery of the first of two Mistral-class helicopter assault ships ordered by Russia.
On September 4, French President Francois Hollande's office pointed to Russia's support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, saying that the conditions for delivering the warship were "not to date in place."
Since then, Hollande has said a cease-fire deal reached in Minsk between Kyiv, Moscow, and eastern Ukraine's pro-Russian separatists must be "completely respected" before France delivers the ship.
France agreed in 2011 to build and sell the two assault ships to Russia.
The first originally was scheduled for delivery in October or November 2014 and the second in 2015.
(AFP, AP, Reuters)
We are now closing the live blog for today. You can still keep up with all our ongoing Ukraine coverage here.
"The Washington Post" points a finger at Russia in a story titled "Hackers Breach Some White House Computers."
It was unclassified networks, and the hacks are said to have occurred "in recent weeks." The report adds:
“In the course of assessing recent threats, we identified activity of concern on the unclassified Executive Office of the President network,” said one White House official. “We took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity. . . . Unfortunately, some of that resulted in the disruption of regular services to users. But people were on it and are dealing with it.”
And:
U.S. officials were alerted to the breach by an ally, sources said.
Recent reports by security firms have identified cyber-espionage campaigns by Russian hackers thought to be working for the government. Targets have included NATO, the Ukrainian government and U.S. defense contractors. Russia is regarded by U.S. officials as being in the top tier of states with cyber-capabilities.
In the case of the White House, the nature of the target is consistent with a state-sponsored campaign, sources said.
Seems unlikely, to say the least...