A coup for the separatists of the "Luhansk People's Republic"?
A report says a team of Ukrainian doctors has left Russia without being allowed to visit Savchenko:
(Interfax) -- A Ukrainian medical team has not been permitted to visit Ukrainian army pilot and Verkhovna Rada deputy Nadia Savchenko, Nikolai Polozov, of the Savchenko defense team, has said.
"The Ukrainian medical team did not receive the Russian authorities' permission to meet with and examine Nadia Savchenko and had to leave the Russian Federation yesterday," the lawyer wrote on Facebook.
The Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region of Russia is hearing the criminal case against Savchenko. She said at the court hearing on December 17, 2015, that she would be on hunger strike until the end of the trial, and announced a "dry" hunger strike, refusing to drink water, on March 4. Savchenko suspended her "dry" hunger strike on March 10 until March 21-22, when the court was scheduled to hand down her
sentence.
Lavrov says U.S. government is "supervising" the "everyday life" in Ukraine:
(TASS) -- Moscow understands that the United States has a decisive influence on Kyiv, that is why a special two-way channel for discussion of the situation in Ukraine with the U.S. was established, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday in an interview with REN TV channel.
"We understand that the United States has a decisive influence on Kyiv's position, they, essentially, supervise their 'everyday life,'" he said. "Therefore, being pragmatists, we work not only with our French, German partners in the framework of the so-called Normandy format, but we are cooperating with the Americans: there is a special two-way channel," he added.
Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk has called for a law to be passed on noninterference in the Ukrainian government's activities:
(TASS) -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has called on President Petro Poroshenko and the Ukrainian parliament to adopt a law protecting the government from pressure from other power branches and political groups.
"We all must demonstrate virtue," Yatsenyuk said on Sunday in his traditional televised weekly address. "And, to my mind, its convincing proof is the signing by you, Mr. President, speaker of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and leaders of national political forces the goals and principles of the current government which are of universal character and provide for nonadmittance of anticonstitutional interference into the activities of the executive authorities, of illegal political pressure, and corruption."
He suggested this initiative be committed to paper at a legislative level. "Their adoption as a Ukrainian law will be a guarantee of observance of these principles," Yatsenyuk stressed.
Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said today that the West is using the case of Nadia Savchenko for political purposes (lightly edited for style):
(TASS) -- Western partners of Kiev are using the case of former Ukrainian soldier Nadia Savchenko for overtly political purposes, blowing it out of proportion to the real situation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday in an interview with REN TV channel.
"The charges against Savchenko are very serious -- involvement in a deliberate murder of Russian journalists in the conflict zone," he said. "As the Foreign Minister has stated repeatedly, their fate is of little interest to Kyiv's Western benefactors, but the Savchenko case is being promoted, her personal, probably unenviable situation, is being used for overtly political purposes. Apparently, she likes it and actively participates in this. This is their choice," Lavrov added.
According to Lavrov, "it is being blown out of proportion to the real situation, no matter how difficult it may be, and no matter how serious the charges are. There are already calls to impose sanctions against Russia, to introduce a 'Savchenko list,'" he added.
The Russian FM said today he expects Washington to make compromises on the Minsk agreements:
(Reuters) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped the United States was willing to compromise so that the Minsk agreements on the Ukraine crisis could be fullfilled, Russian news agencies reported.
"I hope the Americans understand the need to look here for some compromise paths, which will allow for the Minsk agreements to be fulfilled fully," Lavrov told Ren-TV in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here,