That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, June 1, 2017. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Russian Envoy Warns Moscow Will Respond To NATO’s Eastern Boost
Russia’s ambassador to NATO says Moscow will respond to the alliance's military deployment in Eastern members.
Aleksandr Grushko was speaking in Brussels on June 1, as NATO countries are deploying some 4,600 troops to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
NATO describes the deployment as a deterrent move in the face of a more-assertive Russia after its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow accuses the alliance of threatening its security.
"NATO is building a new military security situation that we cannot ignore, that we should address using our own military instruments," Grushko told journalists.
Grushko insisted that "NATO's movements will not be left without a response in terms of military planning," without indicating what kind of measures Russia might take.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Verdict In Moscow-Based Ukrainian Library Director's Hate-Crime Trial Postponed
By RFE/RL
A Moscow court has postponed the verdict in the trial of Natalya Sharina, a librarian who is charged with inciting hatred in a case that is steeped in the confrontation between Moscow and Kyiv and has been denounced by rights activists.
Meshchansky District Court spokeswoman Yulia Bocharova said the judge will pronounce the verdict and sentence on June 5 instead of June 1. No reason was given.
Russian authorities have charged Sharina, the former head of Moscow's Ukrainian Literature Library, with inciting ethnic hatred and embezzlement.
The hate-crime charge stems from the Russian state's claim that her library's collection included books that are banned in Russia as extremist, including works by Ukrainian ultranationalist Dmytro Korchynskiy.
Sharina was detained in October 2015, amid growing animus between Moscow and Kyiv over Russia's seizure of Crimea and support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In April 2016, investigators additionally charged her with embezzlement, claiming that she used library funds to pay for her legal defense in a separate extremism case against her that was dismissed in 2013.
Her lawyer said the authorities had "trumped up" new charges after realizing their initial case against his client was too weak.
Sharina, who is under house arrest, has rejected all the allegations as politically motivated. The respected Russian human rights group Memorial considers her a political prisoner.
On May 29, the state prosecutor asked the judge to find Sharina guilty and give her a five-year suspended sentence, which would mean she would not be imprisoned.