Lone Russian lawmaker to oppose Crimean annexation charged with embezzlement:
Russian authorities have charged Ilya Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, with embezzlement.
The Federal Investigative Committee said on June 24 that a state-funded technological foundation had paid Ponomaryov $750,000 for lectures, but he had delivered only brief comments.
It also said it may put Ponomaryov on an international wanted list if he fails to turn up for the investigation.
Ponomaryov, a member of the A Just Russia party, voted against the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after Russia took control of the Black Sea peninsula.
He is now in the United States and was stripped of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution in April.
Ponomaryov denies wrongdoing and says the case against him is politically motivated. (Reuters, Interfax, TASS)
Russia extends sanction on Western food imports by a year:
Russia has extended a ban on food imports from the West by one year.
Russian news agencies quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on June 24, "We are extending our retaliatory measures by one year beginning from today."
The ban prohibits most food imports from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada, and Norway.
It was expected to be prolonged for six months starting from early August after the European Union extended restrictive measures hitting Russia's energy, financial, and military sectors until January 2016.
The EU also prolonged an investment ban on Crimea for another year.
The Western sanctions were imposed for one year in July 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. (AFP, Reuters)