Ukrainian-Russian gas talks have resumed:
Russia and Ukraine have gone into another round of EU-brokered talks over a natural-gas dispute.
The negotiations in Brussels on October 29 involve Ukrainian and Russian Energy Ministers Yuriy Prodan and Aleksandr Novak as well as EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger.
They come after inconclusive talks on October 21, when Oettinger announced some progress, but said a final deal had yet to be agreed.
Oettinger said on October 29 that hurdles included bills that Ukraine has not paid for gas at higher prices demanded by Russia since the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian government earlier this year. Russia also is demanding advance payment for new deliveries.
Russia cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine in mid-June, citing what it says is a $5.3 billion debt.
Moscow said on October 21 that it would sell gas to Ukraine for $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, much lower than the $485 that Russia's state-controlled Gazprom was demanding weeks ago. (AFP and AP)
UN chief condemns separatist elections:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned plans by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to hold elections.
In a statement on October 29, Ban said the November 2 ballots in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions would breach the Ukrainian Constitution and national law.
Ban said the the elections would also "seriously undermine" the Minsk peace agreement.
The vote to elect separate parliaments in Donetsk and Luhansk was scheduled in defiance of Ukraine's parliamentary elections on October 26, which were won by pro-Western parties.
Russia, however, said it will recognize the results of the separatist-run elections.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the European Union warned that Moscow’s support for the elections could wreck chances for peace.
The United States says the separatist-run ballots are illegitimate. (AFP and Reuters)
U.S. urges Russia to free Ukrainian pilot:
Washington has called on Russia to immediately release Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot who was captured in eastern Ukraine and later handed over to Russia, where she is charged with killing two Russian journalists.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on October 29 that Savchenko’s pretrial detention in Russia, which was extended this week by a Moscow court, was "an outrage" and violated Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements.
Psaki also said Washington was "deeply concerned about new criminal charges expected to be filed" against Savchenko.
Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists on June 18 near the eastern Ukrainian village of Metalist before turning up in Russian custody in early July.
Under Russian court orders, she has been held since October 10 for "psychiatric evaluation" at the notorious Serbsky Institute, a facility behind a wave of diagnoses used to lock up dissidents during the Soviet era.
The Ukrainian president's party is claiming victory in Sunday's parliamentary vote:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc is claiming victory in the country's October 26 parliamentary elections.
Volodymyr Groysman, a leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, was quoted as saying on October 29 the political group was leading with support from a majority of Ukrainians.
Vitaliy Kovalchuk, also from the bloc, said it will be "the basis" of a future coalition.
With 98 percent of the ballots counted on October 29, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's People's Front party was leading with 22.2 percent, while Proshenko's bloc had 21.8 percent.
But Poroshenko's bloc fared better in first-past-the-post voting, and according to election commission data, was positioned to take 133 parliamentary seats compared to 81 seats for Yatsenyuk's People's Front.
Yatsenyuk earlier suggested he was likely to continue as Ukraine's prime minister after a new government is formed. (UNIAN, Reuters, and Interfax)
NATO reports "unusual" Russian flight activity:
NATO says that it tracked and intercepted four groups of Russian warplanes “conducting significant military maneuvers” in international airspace close to the borders of the European Union during the previous 24 hours.
NATO’s SHAPE military headquarters in Mons, Belgium, said, "These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace."
It said the planes included strategic bombers, fighters, and tanker aircraft.
They were detected over the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea on October 28 and 29.
Russian bombers flew south all the way to international airspace west of Portugal and Spain.
Norwegian, British, Portuguese, German, Danish, and Turkish fighters were scrambled to intercept and identify the Russian planes.
Planes from the non-NATO nations of Finland and Sweden also responded.
Since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, tensions between NATO and Russia have risen to the highest level since the Cold War. (AP and AFP)