Here's another update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supports a proposal to extend the current natural gas deal with Ukraine by three months.
Putin said in a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 31 that he agrees with Medvedev's suggestion to prolong the agreement, which was due to expire on April 1.
Medvedev said at the meeting at the presidential residence outside of Moscow that a reduced price of $365 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas for Ukraine was dependent on Kyiv prepaying for the gas and paying all debts.
The price cut for the first quarter of 2015 was agreed to in October in talks led by the EU.
Medvedev said a request for the extension originally came from the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz.
Putin said the Kremlin "will take a look after three months and see what is happening" on world markets before deciding on the gas price for Ukraine after June 30.
(AFP, TASS, Interfax)
Russian @tvrain dedicates its broadcast tonight to the closure of ATR channel in Crimea
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) March 31, 2015
In less than 1 hour, in Russian-occupied Crimea, the only Tatar TV channel (ATR) will be shut down by the Russian government.
— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) March 31, 2015
Last hour of indep Tatar Crimea TV RT @leonidragozin: Watch ATR now - a TV channel being murdered live on air http://t.co/MRUO4u9YTh"
— Sabine Freizer Gunes (@SabineFreizer) March 31, 2015
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow, you can keep up with all our ongoing Ukraine news coverage here.
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this short item from RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. The inclusion of Ukraine in the following list serves to show how much the situation has deteriorated in the country over the past year or so:
A new study has listed Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Ukraine among the world's top 10 most dangerous countries.
Based on terrorist and rebel activity, the study by the Washington-based IntelCenter lists Iraq and Syria as the world’s most dangerous countries.
Afghanistan was ranked fifth and Pakistan was listed as the world’s eighth most dangerous country.
Ukraine was listed as the world’s ninth most dangerous country.
Others in the top 10 were Nigeria, 3rd; Somalia, 4th; Libya, 6th; Yemen, 7th, and Egypt, 10th.
(The Economic Times, The Times of India)