Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at a joint news conference with Guatemala's Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales in Guatemala City:
"Today all efforts should be concentrated on reviving the political process in accordance with the Minsk agreement. But Kyiv is also trying to put the brakes on this process."
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for tonight.
Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko's Request To Replace Judge Rejected
The request of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko to replace the judge at her trial has been rejected.
The judge, Artur Karpov of Moscow's Basmanny Court, explained his March 26 decision by the "lack of justification" of Savchenko's request to replace him with another judge.
Savchenko's lawyers requested Karpov's replacement, saying that Karpov was included in the list of Russian officials the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on for their involvement to the case of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow jail in 2009.
The U.S. sanctions bill is known as Magnitsky list.
Savchenko is charged with involvement in a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists covering the conflict between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
She says she was kidnapped by separatists in June and illegally brought to Russia, which she says has no right to try her.
Savchenko has been drip-fed on glucose and vitamins alone during a hunger strike she began on December 13.
She suspended the hunger strike on March 5, citing health concerns but resumed it 11 days later.
Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS and UNIAN
More on the Russian lawmaker who opposed Crimea seizure and who may now lose his immunity:
Russia's lower house of parliament may pave the way for the prosecution of the only member who voted against the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year.
Authorities say Ilya Ponomaryov, one of a very few opposition lawmakers in the State Duma, is suspected of embezzling money earmarked for Skolkovo, an innovation hub project outside Moscow that aims to create a Russian rival to the U.S. tech hotbed region the Silicon Valley.
Duma spokesman Yury Shuvalov told reporters on March 26 that the chamber's speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, received an official request from the Prosecutor General's Office to strip Ponomaryov of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
The Duma is to consider the issue on April 6.
The March 2014 takeover of Crimea, which sparked a deep crisis between Moscow and Western capitals, was portrayed by the Kremlin as a patriotic mission to restore control over historic Russian lands and was highly popular with the public.
In addition to opposing the annexation, the 39-year-old Ponomaryov was also a prominent organizer and speaker at mass rallies against Russian President Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in 2012 after a period as prime minister.
Ponomaryov has been living in the United States since last year, saying he was forced to leave after being accused in a civil suit for 2.7 million rubles ($47,000 by current rate) for failing to deliver the agreed number of lectures at Skolkovo, a high-tech foundation promoted in 2009 by then president, currently prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.
Following futile attempts to appeal the ruling, Ponomaryov began to pay down the debt.
Ponomaryov says he has to stay in the U.S. as he is unable to return because his accounts and assets have been frozen over the Skolkovo Foundation case and he was barred from crossing back into Russia.
He insists that the embezzlement allegations are politically motivated.
Ekho Moskvy radio quoted him as saying he does not plan to return to Russia while under threat of prosecution.
"What's the point of just voluntarily going to prison?" he was quoted as saying.
Based on reporting by Ekho Moskvy, AP, AFP, TASS, Interfax, and RIA
Video: Ukrainian Prisoners Abandoned By Their Guards
A prison in eastern Ukraine was abandoned by the guards when the area was captured by Russian-backed separatists, leaving the inmates to fend for themselves. Some took the opportunity to run away. But many others stayed -- and are now baking bread for local people. (From RFE/RL’s Current Time)
German lieutenant general: NATO exercise not directed against Russia
Ulm, Germany (dpa) -- A major NATO military exercise planned for the autumn and involving 35,000 troops from 30 nations is not expected to sour relations with Russia, the German general overseeing the exercise said Thursday.
"Theoretically, we could have moved this exercise to the east of Europe if we had wanted to escalate [the situation with Russia]. We did not do that," said Lieutenant General Richard Rossmanith, commander of the Multinational Command Opertaive Leadership, at a press conference in the southern city of Ulm.
Preparatory exercises for the autumn manoeuvres in Italy, Spain and Portugal are currently taking place in the German city against the background of heightened tensions with Russia over its annexation of Crimea and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.
The autumn exercises are the largest for a decade and are intended to flex NATO's muscles on the world stage.
"It is the case that the exercise has strategic messages
comparatively independent of the location of the scenario with reference to the capability of what the alliance can do," Rossmanith said. "And this message will also reach Mister (Vladimir) Putin," he said in reference to the Russian president.