Putin orders government to sue Ukraine if defaults on debt:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Finance Ministry to take Ukraine to court if the country defaults on its $3 billion debt to Moscow.
"Go ahead, take it to court," Putin told Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at a government meeting on December 9.
The comments come a day after the International Monetary Fund revised its policy, allowing the Washington-based institution to continue lending to countries that fail to pay debts held by other countries.
That means financial aid to Ukraine may continue if the country doesn't repay the $3 billion Eurobond Russia bought in December 2013.
Last month, Moscow offered to restructure the bond, which matures on December 20, by spreading out payments over three years.
But Ukraine wants the bond to be restructured under an agreement reached with its commercial creditors that would write down the principal of the debt. (AFP, TASS, Bloomberg)
Ukrainian miners will protest across Ukraine on International Human Rights Day on December 10, Mykhaylo Volynets, chairman of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine and the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, announced.
Miners are demanding that the fuel and energy system in Ukraine be stabilized, overdue salaries be paid, and Minister of Energy and Coal Volodymyr Demchyshyn be dismissed, he said.
This is our Stat of the Day today:
Ukraine Sentences Azerbaijani Men For Attacks On Maidan Activists
A court in Kyiv has sentenced two Azerbaijani citizens for attacks against Maidan activists during the early 2014 protests that brought down Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovych.
The Obolon District Court found the two men guilty on charges of hooliganism, robbery, violent attack, and threatening to kill others.
The two defendants were sentenced on December 9 to four years in jail each.
The sentence for one of the men, whose names were not released, was suspended for three years.
Investigators said during their trial that the two attacked and severely beat two activists of pro-European Maidan protests in Kyiv in January 2014.
They were convicted of robbing one victim and taking part in the kidnapping of another Ukrainian activist that was held in captivity for two hours.
They also were convicted of beating the man they helped to kidnap and threatening to kill him.
Based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
More Than 9,000 Killed In Eastern Ukraine Conflict, UN Says
A UN report released on December 9 says the confirmed death toll from the conflict in eastern Ukraine now exceeds 9,000, despite a “significant reduction of hostilities in certain parts” of the region.
The report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine attributed the decrease in hostilities to the withdrawal of “certain heavy weapons by the Ukrainian military” and pro-Russian separatist fighters.
But it warned that weapons and fighters are still pouring into rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine from Russia.
It said the death toll since fighting began in April 2014 had reached 9,098 in mid-November with another 20, 732 people injured.
The casualty toll includes civilians, Ukrainian government troops, and pro-Russian armed groups.
The report says there were 47 civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine between August 26 and November 15.
It said most of those deaths were caused by “explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, underscoring the urgent need for extensive mine clearance and mine awareness actions on both sides of the conflict line."