Here's another Ukraine-related item from our news desk:
Ukraine has rejected Georgia's request for the extradition of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, saying it was politically motivated.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said on April 1 that Saakashvili, who now heads an advisory body in Ukraine, will not be extradited to Georgia.
"Saakashvili's extradition would be against the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms," the Prosecutor-General's Office said.
Saakashvili, who introduced reforms during nearly a decade in power in Georgia following the 2003 Rose Revolution, left the ex-Soviet republic after his presidency ended in November 2013.
The government that came to power after beating his party in 2012 parliamentary elections has accused him of fraud, organization of an assault, and abuse of office -- charges he denies.
Saakashvili has been serving as the head of Ukraine's Consultative International Council of Reforms since February.
(UNIAN, Interfax)
World Bank says Russia may suffer more from sanctions than it thought:
The World Bank predicts Russia's economy will shrink more than previously forecast in the next two years as the effects of low oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's interference in Ukraine take hold.
In a report released on April 1, the World Bank predicted that Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) would decline by 3.8 percent in 2015 rather than the 2.9 percent forecast in January.
It predicted GDP would continue to decline next year, but only by about 0.3 percent. In January, it had forecast GDP growth of 0.1 percent in 2016.
The report said that "the oil price slump and stricter sanctions came late in 2014, so that their impact only began to affect the economy in the final quarter of 2014."
It added that "the effects are likely to be more profound this year and in 2016."
The World Bank forecast inflation in Russia at about 10 percent and capital flight amounting to some $80 billion.
It said capital flight came to $151 billion in 2014. (The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Interfax)
Ukraine's SBU says it has arrested Odesa bombers:
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained three people suspected of involvement in a series of explosions in the southeastern city of Odesa.
SBU spokeswoman Olena Hitlyanska told reporters in Kyiv on April 1 that the three -- who reportedly identified themselves as communist activists -- had confessed to commiting "at least nine acts of terrorism in Odesa" between December and March.
Hitlyanska said a shotgun, chemicals, mobile phone parts, and timers similar to ones used to detonate handmade explosive devices in Odesa, were found on the suspects.
A series of bomb blasts have hit Odesa and another eastern Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, in recent months.
Ukrainian authorities blamed those blasts -- many of which seemed to target organizations with ties to soldiers fighting in eastern Ukraine -- on Russia and the rebels who hold parts of the eastern provinces on Donetsk and Luhansk.
Both cities are under the Ukrainian government's control but are seen as prizes coveted by the Russian-backed rebels. (UNIAN, Interfax)