EU unlikely to agree next week to prolong Russia sanctions
BRUSSELS, March 13 (Reuters) - European Union leaders are unlikely to reach agreement at their summit next week to prolong economic sanctions on Russia that expire in July, a senior EU official said on Friday.
New sanctions on Russia are also off the table for now because EU governments want to give a chance to a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.
But some of the EU's 28 member states had pushed for an early decision on extending sanctions on Russia's financial, energy and defence sectors adopted in July last year over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
While leaders will discuss sanctions at next week's summit, the senior EU official said a majority would probably want to hold over discussion of renewing the economic sanctions on Russia until July.
"What will be the final point we will see in the Council (summit) but I don't think there is unanimity at all for the rollover of sanctions, the sanctions that are due in July," the official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said.
Ukraine Receives $5 Billion IMF Tranche
Ukraine says it has received the first $5 billion tranche of a International Monetary Fund loan for its strained economy.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement on March 13 that $2.2 billion will be put in government accounts and the rest go to the central bank to help stabilize the falling national currency, the hryvnya.
The $5 billion tranche is the first part of a four-year, $17.5 billion IMF package.
The Ukrainian economy has been hit hard by the war in eastern Ukraine, which has shut down industries and severely disrupted trade with Russia.
The IMF loan is designed to unlock other credits for Ukraine from other lenders, eventually allowing Kyiv to receive a total financial package worth some $40 billion.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said talks would start on March 13 with Kyiv’s creditors on restructuring Ukraine's debt.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
What Russia describes as "humanitarian aid" convoys continue:
Russian humanitarian aid convoy passing customs checks
MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russian Emergencies Ministry's convoy with humanitarian aid for conflict-gripped Donbas arrived at the border with Ukraine, deputy head of the National Crisis Management Centre Oleg Voronov told TASS on Friday.
"Now the cargoes are undergoing customs clearance at the two border checkpoints in the [Russian southern] Rostov region - Matveyev Kurgan and Donetsk," Voronov said.
Over 50 trucks carry 250 tonnes of foodstuffs, building products and everything needed for the spring grain sowing campaign in Donbas.
Equal amounts of cargoes are expected to be delivered to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The State Department has launched a Crimea campaign to mark next week's anniversary of the referendum and annexation.
Ukrainian Doctors Not Allowed To See Savchenko
Ukrainian physicians who traveled to Russia to give jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko a medical examination were not allowed into the detention facility to see her.
Officials at the facility where Savchenko is being kept said they could not allow the March 13 visit because the Ukrainian doctors did not have the necessary documents from Russia's Foreign Ministry to be permitted entry.
Savchenko recently ended a nearly three-month hunger strike she was holding to protest what she calls her illegal confinement by Russia.
Savchenko is in pretrial detention in Russia, where she has been charged with involvement in a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists covering the conflict between government forces and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin complained the Ukrainian doctors had been told previously by Russian officials there was no problem in allowing them to examine Savchenko in her cell.
Poroshenko Confirms Deescalation In Progress
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a television interview that the deescalation process in the eastern part of his country is taking hold.
Appearing on the 1+1 television channel on March 13, Poroshenko said, "We have not had military losses for several days…this is a clear indication of a gradual deescalation."
Poroshenko's comments came one month after a new truce deal was agreed to in Minsk by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, calling on Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to cease fire and withdraw heavy weapons from the line of conflict.
Despite Poroshenko's remarks on deescalation, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported government forces said they came under shelling near the village of Peski and Avdeevka, near the separatist-held Donetsk region.
UNIAN also reported Ukrainian forces near Mariupol were attacked by "Russian terrorist groups" near the town of Shirokino.
Russian news agencies reported the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) of the separatists claimed Ukrainian forces were shelling DNR forces near Shirokino.