Just in from AFP:
A fresh round of peace talks with Ukraine's pro-Russian rebels will take place in the Belarussian capital on Wednesday and Friday, President Petro Poroshenko said after speaking by phone with his French, Russian and German counterparts.
"The heads of state agreed that the next meetings of the trilateral contact group in Minsk will take place on Wednesday and Friday this week," said a statement on the president's website. The talks will involve envoys from Kiev, Moscow and the pan-European OSCE security body.
Just in from Reuters:
Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine note east Ukraine ceasefire holding -Kremlin
MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A ceasefire in east Ukraine has generally been holding in past days, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted along with the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine in telephone talks on the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday.
"It was noted with satisfaction that the warring parties have generally enforced the ceasefire in past days," the statement said.
It said the leaders emphasized "the paramount importance of guaranteeing a ceasefire in the future, an agreement on a line of demarcation for the sides, the removal of heavy weapons and the activation of prisoner exchanges."
More from RFE/RL's News Desk:
U.S. authorities have thwarted an attempt by Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft to boost its global reach by blocking its acquisition of a Morgan Stanley oil trading firm.
Rosneft – which is head by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s long-standing ally Igor Sechin – said on December 22 that the deal was terminated because U.S. regulators refused to grant clearance.
Morgan Stanley confirmed the deal was terminated and says it will now consider other options.
Valued at between $300 million and $400 million, the deal was agreed in December 2013 when Sechin said it would spearhead Rosneft’s growth in the international oil market.
But Western sanctions against Russia over its March 2014 annexation of Crimea, as well as plummeting oil prices, have hurt Rosneft’s ability to finance the operations.
Sanctions also have prompted Rosneft’s global partners, including ExxonMobil, to withdrawn from projects to develop Arctic offshore oil deposits.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russia’s former Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin has warned that the country’s current financial crisis is now deteriorating into a "full-fledged economic crisis" that will be sharply felt across Russia during 2015.
Kudrin, who now heads a Russian think tank called the Civic Initiatives Committee, told the Interfax news agency on December 22 that Russia’s most optimistic forecast is a 2 percent decline of Gross Domestic Product during 2015.
But he said that forecast is based on the global oil price rising to $80 per barrel.
Kudrin said if oil prices remain at the current $60 per barrel level, Russia’s GDP will decline 4 percent or more next year.
Kurdin told Interfax: “I can say today that we have entered or are entering a genuine, full-fledged economic crisis. We will feel it in full measure next year.”
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
The chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council says the upper house of the parliament is drafting legislation that would retroactively proclaim the Soviet Union's 1954 transfer of Crimea to Ukraine as “legally void and nonbinding” since the moment of its enactment.
Valentina Matviyenko made the announcement at a December 22 meeting of lawmakers from both chambers of parliament that also was attended by President Vladimir Putin.
Matviyenko said a legal analysis shows the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine under the Soviet leadership of Nikita Khrushchev was “unlawful” and violated the constitution and legal procedures of the time.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March after deploying Russian troops across the peninsula and carrying out an independence referendum that has been condemned around the world as a violation of Ukrainian and international law.