That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, October 29. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Ukraine opened criminal proceedings against former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for his visit to Crimea in September, said Ukrainian deputy Horhiy Lohvynskyy at a press conference.
Berlusconi, Lohvynskyy claims, violated lawful procedures for entering “temporarily occupied territory.”
“We state that regardless of the status and position, we will prosecute everyone, and Berlusconi is no exception,” Lohvynskyy said. He added that hopefully, other foreign politicians “will find a way to recognize that a violation of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is unacceptable.”
Ukraine has already officially banned Berlusconi from entering the country.
IMF Considers Policy Change That Would Help Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it will soon make a decision on changing its policy to allow lending to countries in arrears to official creditors, a move that would aid Ukraine in a debt dispute with Russia.
The fund is discussing “reforms that would allow the fund to lend in the presence of arrears to official bilateral creditors in carefully circumscribed circumstances," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said on October 29.
Such a change may allow Kyiv to keep receiving tranches of a $17.5 billion IMF loan even if it misses payment on a $3 billion bond due to Russia on December 20.
Current policy prohibits the IMF from lending to a country that goes into arrears on official debt.
Ukraine needs to restructure its debt as a condition of the IMF loan, but Russia has refused to accept new terms.
Based on reporting by Bloomberg.com and Reuters
Ukraine Rejects Russia's Proposal To Talk On Flight Resumption
The Russian aviation agency has proposed to continue negotiations with Ukraine's aviation authorities on resuming flights between the two countries, but Kyiv quickly turned down the offer.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, says it sent a letter to the State Aviation Service of Ukraine on October 28, in which “readiness was expressed to continue dialogue with the aims of reviving soon air transportation between Russian and Ukraine."
A spokesman for Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said talks could only start "if Russia pays existing fines and stops flying to restricted areas, principally Crimea."
Ukraine banned flights by Russian airlines from October 25 in reprisal for Moscow's annexation of Crimea. Russia called the ban "madness" and mirrored the move.
Tens of thousands of passengers will be affected by the bans every month.
They are now forced to take longer, more expensive routes via third countries, or to brace themselves for a 13-hour trip by train.