Meanwhile, in Saakashvili's other trial, closing arguments made:
By RFE/RL's Georgian Service
TBILISI -- Closing arguments have been made in a Tbilisi court at the trial in absentia of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who faces charges connected to a 2006 murder case.
Judge Giorgi Arvevadze announced on January 3 that the final hearing had been completed. He recessed the court before issuing his ruling.
Saakashvili, who now resides in Kyiv, has been charged with "abuse of power" and accused of trying to cover up evidence about the murder of Georgian banker Sandro Girgvliani.
Saakashvili is also charged with abusing his presidential powers by issuing pardons for four men who were convicted in 2006 of murdering Girgvliani.
Girgvliani, who headed the foreign department of United Georgian Bank, was found dead in January 2006 outside of Tbilisi with multiple injuries after he was seen arguing in a bar with high-ranking Interior Ministry officials.
Saakashvili was the president of Georgia at the time.
Girgvliani's murder, and the unwillingness of the authorities to investigate his death, resulted in harsh criticism of Saakashvili's government.
Prosecutors now accuse Saakashvili and other former Georgian officials of being accomplices in the falsification of evidence related to the case.
Saakashvili rejects the charges as politically motivated.
Saakashvili's government-appointed lawyer, Sofio Goglichidze, asked in her closing arguments on January 3 for the court to acquit Saakashvili.
From Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. ...
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster spokes to VOA about Russia and Ukraine:
McMaster said the Russians "are the same people” who denied they shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 and "murdered" 298 people, that “they have soldiers in Crimea or eastern Ukraine,” or that they are providing cover for the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and his alleged use of chemical weapons.
Dutch investigators and others say a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane that crashed in a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 was brought down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile.
The United States and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia for its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and for its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 10,300 people since 2014.
“[The denials are] just not credible anymore,” he said. “So, what we need to do, I think, with Russia is confront their destabilization behavior. As I mentioned, pull the curtain back on it.”
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, January 3, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.