U.S. urges Russia to free Ukrainian pilot:
Washington has called on Russia to immediately release Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot who was captured in eastern Ukraine and later handed over to Russia, where she is charged with killing two Russian journalists.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on October 29 that Savchenko’s pretrial detention in Russia, which was extended this week by a Moscow court, was "an outrage" and violated Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements.
Psaki also said Washington was "deeply concerned about new criminal charges expected to be filed" against Savchenko.
Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists on June 18 near the eastern Ukrainian village of Metalist before turning up in Russian custody in early July.
Under Russian court orders, she has been held since October 10 for "psychiatric evaluation" at the notorious Serbsky Institute, a facility behind a wave of diagnoses used to lock up dissidents during the Soviet era.
UN chief condemns separatist elections:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned plans by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to hold elections.
In a statement on October 29, Ban said the November 2 ballots in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions would breach the Ukrainian Constitution and national law.
Ban said the the elections would also "seriously undermine" the Minsk peace agreement.
The vote to elect separate parliaments in Donetsk and Luhansk was scheduled in defiance of Ukraine's parliamentary elections on October 26, which were won by pro-Western parties.
Russia, however, said it will recognize the results of the separatist-run elections.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the European Union warned that Moscow’s support for the elections could wreck chances for peace.
The United States says the separatist-run ballots are illegitimate. (AFP and Reuters)
Ukrainian-Russian gas talks have resumed:
Russia and Ukraine have gone into another round of EU-brokered talks over a natural-gas dispute.
The negotiations in Brussels on October 29 involve Ukrainian and Russian Energy Ministers Yuriy Prodan and Aleksandr Novak as well as EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger.
They come after inconclusive talks on October 21, when Oettinger announced some progress, but said a final deal had yet to be agreed.
Oettinger said on October 29 that hurdles included bills that Ukraine has not paid for gas at higher prices demanded by Russia since the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian government earlier this year. Russia also is demanding advance payment for new deliveries.
Russia cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine in mid-June, citing what it says is a $5.3 billion debt.
Moscow said on October 21 that it would sell gas to Ukraine for $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, much lower than the $485 that Russia's state-controlled Gazprom was demanding weeks ago. (AFP and AP)
Russia's state oil company in trouble:
Russian state-controlled energy giant Rosneft says its profits during the third quarter of 2014 crashed dramatically after Western sanctions were imposed over Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
Rosneft said on October 29 that its third-quarter net profits fell by 99.3 percent -- down to $24.4 million -- compared to the same three-month period in 2013.
Rosneft’s access to Western financing and technology -- needed to service its debts and bring East Siberian fields online -- has been cut by the sanctions.
Rosneft also has been hurt by the falling value of the Russian ruble.
Russian Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev said on October 29 that the government could not satisfy a request from Rosneft for a further bailout to help it service debts.
In August, Rosneft asked the Russian government for a huge financial bailout to help it repay debts of about $45 billion. (Reuters and AFP)
Another update from our news desk on the reported shelling near Mariupol:
Pro-Russian separatists reportedly shelled the position of Ukrainian government troops in southeastern Ukraine today, despite an almost two-month-old cease-fire agreement.
Authorities in the port city of Mariupol say military positions located near the village of Talakovka were targeted by conventional artillery and Grad rockets that were fired from the separatist-controlled region of Donetsk.
Casualties were reported among troops.
The cease-fire agreement signed in early September ended most fighting between the two sides -- although battles at the Donetsk airport, in Mariupol, and in villages near the city of Luhansk continue on an almost daily basis.
The UN says more than 3,700 people have been killed in six months of fighting between government forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine, with hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes.
(Interfax, UNIAN)