Here's an excerpt:
At half past six in the morning in early September, a captain from Russia's 106th Guards Airborne Division arrived at the outskirts of a remote village in the Samara region, a triangular stretch of southern Russia between Kazakhstan and the Volga River. A local military representative picked him up at the Samara airport. The two drove through the countryside for hours, rows of birch trees giving way to flat farmland, until a signpost beside a small cemetery announced the village of Podsolnechnoye. The vehicle bounced along a rutted road, past clusters of dilapidated single-story houses, and came to a stop in front of a modest white brick home.
The captain had traveled nearly 870 miles from Rostov, on the Ukrainian border. With him was a sealed zinc coffin containing the body of a 20-year-old paratrooper named Sergei Andrianov.
Relatives were waiting to greet them outside. Andrianov's older brother and uncle stepped forward with an angle grinder. His mother, Natasha, remained inside. "I was hoping there was a mistake," she said. Outside, the men managed to pry open the coffin. Natasha heard her daughter begin to scream.
To his relatives, Andrianov was barely recognizable—his expression frozen in a grimace, eyes and mouth wide open. The left side of his face had turned blue, while his nose was twisted as if someone had yanked it to the side. His body was covered in dirt, which had caked under his fingernails. The fatal blast wound to the heart was hidden beneath a fresh military uniform intended for a man twice his size. A pair of flimsy rubber flip-flops dangled from his feet.
Read more here.
Just in:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov amid tension over Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov's murder and the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
After a 20-minute meeting on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Kerry tweeted that he and Lavrov had "frank discussions" on Ukraine, Syria, and the negotiations aimed at reaching an international deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
UPDATE:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on March 2, amid tension over Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov's murder and the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Kerry and Lavrov shook hands but made no public remarks before they began talks on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The situation in eastern Ukraine and the February 27 killing of Kremlin critic Nemtsov, in central Moscow, were expected to top discussions.
Just in from RFE/RL's News Desk:
The UN human rights chief says more than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine since it erupted in April 2014.
In a statement on March 2, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein decried the "merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure" in the war between government forces and Russian-backed separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
"More than 6,000 lives have now been lost in less than a year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine," he said.
The Geneva-based UN rights body said that hundreds of civilians and military personnel were killed in recent weeks alone, after an upswing in fighting particularly near Donetsk airport and the town of Debaltseve.
Moscow denies involvement, but the UN said that "credible reports indicate a continuing flow of heavy weaponry and foreign fighters" from Russia to the separatists since December.
A sharp decrease in fighting since the rebels seized Debaltseve in mid-February has raised hopes a February 12 cease-fire deal brokered by Germany and France could hold.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
The prime minister of Estonia has claimed victory in parliamentary elections overshadowed by fears fueled by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last year.
Prime Minister Taavi Roivas' center-right Reform Party won 27.7 percent with almost all the votes counted.
Its main challenger, the opposition center-left Center Party, was second with 24.8 percent.
The Center Party signed a cooperation deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party in 2004.
Even though Estonia is a member of NATO and the EU, many are worried that Moscow might try to boost its influence in the country, a former Soviet republic where one-fourth of the 1.3 million residents are ethnic Russians.
Defense Minister Sven Mikser said on March 2 that Estonia should improve its defense capabilities "to maintain solidarity with Western nations."
The latest on the detention and release of Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko by Russian police, by RFE/RL's Luke Johnson:
A Ukrainian lawmaker was detained by Russian police on March 1 ahead of a march in Moscow in memory of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.
Oleksiy Honcharenko was later released from police custody, but must appear before a judge on March 2 and could still face detention, his lawyer was quoted by AFP as saying.
Honcharenko told RFE/RL that there was no reason for his arrest. "I did nothing," he said, speaking from the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow. "I wore a T-shirt with portrait of Boris Nemtsov and Ukrainian words 'heroes don't die."
He said that he was beaten and taken to jail, where he spent over five hours. He said he was refused a lawyer and a request for medical treatment was ignored. He said his arrest was a "violation of all laws of Russia."
More here.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on March 2 on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council.
The situation in eastern Ukraine and the February 27 murder in central Moscow of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov are expected to top discussions.
Kerry on March 1 called for a "thorough, transparent, real investigation" into Nemtsov's killing as tens of thousands marched through Moscow to mourn his death.
In Ukraine, a drop in violence and moves by Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels to withdraw heavy weapons from the front line had raised hopes a shaky two-week-old cease-fire could hold.
But Ukraine's military warned on March 1 the rebels were using the truce to regroup for new attacks on government positions.
A spokesman named as major targets government-held Mariupol, a strategic port city, and Artemivsk, north of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
This ends our live-blogging for March 1. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.