Ukraine protests over Crimea information in Kazakh schoolbooks:
ASTANA. Sept 25 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Embassy has lodged a protest with Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry over information about Crimea offered by school books of the Mektep publishing house.
"Since high school textbooks produced by Kazakh publishing house Mektep describe the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as a region of the Russian Federation, the Embassy of Ukraine lodged a note of protest with the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan," Ukraine's charge d'affaires to Kazakhstan said in a statement, which was circulated by the diplomatic mission's press service on Friday.
Ukraine believes that the publication of "this information runs counter to the position of both the international community and the leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which has voiced its support for Ukraine's territorial integrity more than once," the statement says.
In its protest, the Ukrainian side asks Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry and Education and Science Ministry to "facilitate the immediate recall of the aforementioned textbooks from high schools of the Republic of Kazakhstan."
Russia-Ukraine-EU gas talks set to resume:
Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union are set to resume talks aimed at restoring Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, the Russian energy minister has said.
Aleksandr Novak told reporters in Moscow on September 24 that the talks would start the next day in Brussels. "We will be finally agreeing to the text of the protocol," he said.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a standoff over gas since a pro-Western uprising ousted ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and took control of Kyiv last year.
In July, Russian gas giant Gazprom halted gas supplies to Ukraine after the breakdown of talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Recent weeks have seen fresh attempts to resolve the conflict with the approach of winter, when demand for gas in Ukraine and Europe will rise.
Ukraine transports 15 percent of gas consumed in Europe, and its reserves are running low since Gazprom turned off the tap.
Russian and European officials on September 11 appeared to reach a tentative deal to end the gas dispute, with the EU providing Ukraine $500 million to buy Russian gas so that it can replenish its reserves and ensure uninterrupted gas transit. (AFP and TASS)
Separatists kick UN,aid groups out of Luhansk:
The United Nations' humanitarian chief says that UN agencies have been ordered out of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine by the "de facto authorities" there.
Stephen O'Brien said he was "alarmed" that Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists ordered UN agencies and several civil health organizations to end operations and leave by this weekend, and called on the separatists to reconsider.
As a result of the separatists' actions, including a new requirement since July that groups register before they can operate in eastern Ukraine, some 16,000 tons of humanitarian aid has not been delivered and local hospitals have not been able to perform surgery because they lack anesthesia, he said.
UN operations in the region of Donetsk, the other major separatist-held city in eastern Ukraine, are also in peril, he said. "A decision by the de facto authorities in Donetsk on the UN's future operations remains on hold, and all UN agency operations have been suspended," he said.
"Some 150,000 people are not receiving monthly food distributions," O'Brien said. The suspension of shipments is putting lives at risk and is "having a serious impact on some 3 million people as winter approaches," he said.
O'Brien called the failure of authorities in the separatist-held regions to allow humanitarian access "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law."
Several international nongovernmental organizations also have been told to leave Luhansk by September 26, he said.
Separatist leaders said on September 24 that they banned 10 Western health relief groups for "grave violations" of local laws.
The list includes such world-renowned organizations as Doctors Without Borders and the Czech Republic's People in Need.
But they spared the operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which was targeted earlier this month for allegedly breaching fire-safety laws.
"We received 11 accreditation applications. Ten of them were rejected for various reasons," the Luhansk government's deputy leader, Vasily Nikitin, said in a statement on the insurgents' official news site.
"With much regret, I must say that People in Need -- they too gravely violated our conditions."
The Luhansk guerrillas last week had accused the doctors group of "illegally storing psychotropic medication" that lacked proper registration in either Russia or Ukraine.
Doctors Without Borders strongly denied the allegations. On September 24, the group said it was "extremely concerned" about the separatists' actions and it had closed its office in Luhansk.
Nikitin said the outlawed groups had the right to file new applications or even request ones by telephone if they wish to stay.
The UN's O'Brien called on the separatists "in both Luhansk and Donetsk to ensure the immediate resumption of UN and international NGO activities."
Appealing to Russia, O'Brien urged "everyone with influence over the de facto authorities to use that influence to ensure the immediate resumption of humanitarian aid by UN agencies and international NGOs." (AP, Reuters, AFP)