Новости за 29.04.2016

WASHINGTON - Russian SU-27 conducted a "barrel roll" on April 29 over the top of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 which was flying a reconnaissance mission in international airspace above the Baltic Sea, two U.S. defense officials told CNN.

Consumer confidence in Russia fell to 63 points in the first quarter of this year on Nielsen's Consumer Confidence Index, the lowest level since records began in 2005, the Kommersant newspaper reported on April 29.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine says it aims for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine to begin with the start of the Easter and May holidays.

If Finland joined NATO it would provoke a "serious crisis" with neighbouring Russia, an expert report commissioned by the government warned on April 29.

Ukraine's government on April 29 agreed to a new truce with pro-Russian insurgents to take effect ahead of Orthodox Easter this weekend, reinforcing a deal signed more than a year ago.

A presidential order to appoint Yuriy Harbuz as chairman of Luhansk military and civil administration was posted on President Petro Poroshenko's official website on April 29.

Ukraine has urged Moldova to hold the talks on the trade restrictions on Ukrainian goods, and in the case of their failure has promised to introduce similar measures against Moldovan goods, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister - Economic Development and Trade of Minister Stepan Kubiv has said.

More than 30,000 people have been put on the list of casualties since the onset of the conflict in Donbas, including the more than 9,000 people killed in the conflict, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said.

Participants in the Trilateral Contact Group have spoken in support of the proposed full ceasefire in Donbas starting from April 30, Darya Olifer, press secretary of Ukraine's second (1994-2005) president Leonid Kuchma, who represents the country in the Group, has said.

MINSK, Belarus — The international envoy working to bring peace to eastern Ukraine says agreement has been reached to observe a cease-fire with the start of the Orthodox Easter and May Day holidays.

Sweden can make its own decisions about defence and security. Stockholm demands that Moscow fully respects this sovereign right.

Western allies are preparing to put four battalions—a force of about 4,000 troops—in the Baltic region as part of an effort by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to reinforce the alliance’s border with Russia as Moscow steps up military activity, officials said on April 29.

Chancellor Merkel has said that Germany's possible plans to up troops in Lithuania should not aim to enflame tensions with Moscow. Merkel has also called for a "strong and prosperous" UK to remain in the EU.

Economic reform is central for today’s Ukraine. The capacity of the Ukrainian nation—leadership and population together—to deliver a modern and efficient economy, if achieved, would constitute the winning asset in the West’s current struggle with Russia in Eastern Europe.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development won’t cease operations in Russia even as sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine leave new financing on hold, according to the president of the London-based lender.

The dust has not yet settled on Serbia's April 24 elections. In most European capitals, the clear win by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his Progressive Party is regarded as a sign that the pro-Western mood is dominant in Serbia.

MOSCOW - The McDonald's fast food chain said its lawyers were investigating after entrepreneurs in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine started selling McDonald's-style hamburgers out of a restaurant that the company shut down two years ago.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has dismissed Heorhiy Tuka from the office of the head of Luhansk Regional State Administration and appointed MP Yuriy Harbuz of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc to this post.

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group for settling the Donbas crisis, insists on resolving security issues in the area, without which it will be impossible to switch to political matters, Kuchma's press secretary Darka Olifer said.

An all-Ukrainian congress of prosecutors on April 26-28 elected loyalists handpicked by acting Prosecutor General Yury Sevruk to serve on internal regulating bodies, critics say.

MOSCOW - Ukrainian Nadia Savchenko, who has been recently sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing Russian journalists, has filled out, assisted by one of her lawyers, the documents needed to apply for her extradition to Ukraine, Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feygin said.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, allowance for the losses of the NBU's assets located in or otherwise associated with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (including loans to borrowers) and those incurred due to the loss by the Ukrainian authorities of control over certain areas in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts amounted to Hr 1,022 million, which was equal to 0.12 percent of the NBU's consolidated assets (as of Dec. 31, 2014 it was Hr 1,042 million, which was equal to 0.18 percent of the NBU's consolidated assets). Читать дальше...

MINSK - The members of the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine could not reach agreement on freeing the individuals being held in Donbas in Minsk on Friday, which would be especially important in the run-up to Orthodox Easter, OSCE Special Envoy for Ukraine Martin Sajdik told journalists.

The main pro-Russian leader in eastern separatist Ukraine on April 29 accused Kyiv of planning to assassinate him as the former Soviet country marked Orthodox Easter this weekend.

MINSK - The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine has adopted a statement in Minsk on Friday, giving support to all participants in the Minsk process in their determination to secure a full observation of the ceasefire regime in Donbas as soon as the Easter and the May Holidays begin, OSCE Special Envoy Martin Sajdik told reporters.