In Russia, patriotism and politics can seep into all aspects of life, even children's toys. One small business in Moscow is churning out toy soldiers that pay tribute to the separatist fighters in Ukraine -- and is using some of its profits to contribute to the conflict. (Vadim Kondakov, RFE/RL's Current Time)
School textbooks where Crimea is listed as "subject within the Russian Federation" will be updated, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science's Committee for Control of Education and Science, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
"Committee members concluded that the geography and world history textbooks...contain [the de facto situation] without value judgment," reads the press release.
Not all facts were taken into consideration while writing the books, the committee declared.
"In particular, the publishing house and authors didn't reflect the official position of Kazakhstan and the world community on the issue of Crimea," the statement adds.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan addressed a note of protest to the government after learning about the content of the school textbooks last week.
The board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a loan of up to $300 million for Ukraine to purchase natural gas in the European market to fill its storage for the upcoming winter, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.
"The loan will strengthen Ukraine's energy security by supporting diversification of natural-gas suppliers and delivery routes," reads the bank’s statement.
The loan should stimulate reforms in Ukraine’s gas market, the bank emphasizes.
A five-minute video that documents the death of 45 Euromaidan activists on February 20, 2014, has been uploaded to YouTube. Although the video has been online since August, Oleksandra Matviychuk, the coordinator of the Euromaidan SOS initiative, shared it on her Facebook page recently, saying that those who made it had to go through gigabytes of photos and videos to create it.
"While the square on the screen is green -- the person is alive, when it’s red -- the person has been hit with a bullet," she wrote.
"This video should be rewatched periodically," Matviychuk added. "To be angrier, more effective and demanding, first of all, to oneself. To give up and succumb to lack of faith for us, people who were left alive, is an unjustified luxury."