Новости за 09.03.2016

March 5 marked the sixty-third anniversary of Joseph Stalin's death. A friend texted me a photo of a poster from a Moscow bus shelter, a death mask of the Soviet dictator, captioned with the words: "That one died, this one will, too," presumably a reference to Russia's current ruler Vladimir Putin.

DONETSK, Russia — Defiant in her closing statement on March 8 to a Russian court, Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko brandished her middle finger, burst into the Ukrainian national anthem and declared her trial in the death of two Russian journalists to be “the farce of Kremlin puppets.”

Global credit rating agency Moody’s has announced that it will withdraw credit ratings in Russia following “legislative changes and other potential restrictions” that affect the business of providing national scale ratings by its joint venture in the country, Moody’s Interfax Rating Agency. Once ratings are withdrawn, MIRA will close.

Polish parliametarians are demanding to free Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko immediately. The resolution asking for her release has been adopted in Poland's Sejm.

ST. PETERSBURG - Russian activists in the city of St. Petersburg have staged an protest calling for the release of jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko.

MOSCOW - A Ukrainian pilot held in Russia over the death of two Russian journalists during separatist fighting in eastern Ukraine climbed onto a table and flashed an obscene gesture at a judge at the end of her trial on March 8.

The European Union will extend for a further six months until September sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian individuals over the conflict in Ukraine, EU sources said on March 9.

European Commissioner on migration, home affairs and citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos does not rule out that European Commission may adopt a legislative initiative to grant Ukraine visa-free regime as early as next month, an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels reports.

ST. PETERSBURG - Police in St. Petersburg have arrested several of the people who were staging a banned rally in support of Nadia Savchenko in the city center, one of the protest organizers, Vsevolod Nelayev, told Interfax on March 8.

Throughout the day, on March 9, Donbas militants shelled the Ukrainian positions over 20 times, according to the press center of the military operation in southeastern Ukraine.

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin discussed the case of hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko in a phone call on March 9, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Protesters across Ukraine have continued to demand the release of Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko from Russian custody.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has described as yet another unlawful action a Russian court decision in the case against Ukrainian parliamentarian Nadia Savchenko, denying access to her by relatives, doctors and Ukrainian diplomats until the verdict which has also been postponed until March 21.

NATO will continue its support to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense in the process of its reforming, the press service of Ukraine's Defense Ministry said.

Hungary will send more police and army troops to patrol its southern borders, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said on March 9, as several countries in the Balkans take extra steps to keep out migrants.

Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey İsmail Kahraman has informed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about setting up of a group of friends with Ukraine in the Turkish parliament several days ago, a president's press service reported.

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said on March 9 it suspected a senior executive in state energy firm Naftogaz of putting "illegal pressure" on a former minister to secure a government post.

Russia was prepared to allow Ukrainian doctors to visit Ukrainian woman Nadia Savchenko held in custody on an exceptional basis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has listed three options out of the country's political crisis. He made the announcement following a ceremony marking Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko's birthday.

A Ukrainian military pilot on trial in Russia over the killing of two journalists defiantly raised her middle finger at the court on March 9 and vowed to press on with a hunger strike.

Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine has led to enhancing ties between Ukraine and Turkey, says Crimean Tatar Mejlis head and Ukraine's Member of Parliament Refat Chubarov.

BERLIN – German officials have appealed to Russia urging to immediately free Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, speaker of the German parliament Steffen Seibert said.

Three Ukrainians have been killed in an air crash in Bangladesh, and another one is in critical condition in the hospital, said Yevhen Ihnatovsky, First Secretary at the Consular Service Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

The market is currently being buoyed by optimism that Natalie Jaresko, the incumbent finance minister, has been asked to form a new technocratic cabinet.

At a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, particular attention was given to the prospects for the two countries' cooperation in trade, economy, investment, energy and transport, the Ukrainian president's press office said on Wednesday.