Reuters: Foreign ministers from NATO nations and Ukraine condemn Russia's "deliberate destabilization of eastern Ukraine" and military buildup in Crimea.
From our newsroom:
Russia has drastically revised its economic forecast for 2015, abandoning its earlier prediction of 1.2 percent growth and instead predicting that gross domestic product will contract by 0.8 percent next year.
Russian Deputy Economy Minister Aleksei Vedev announced the revised economic forecast on December 2.
He said the ministry also cut its forecast for the average oil price in 2015 from $100 to $80 per barrel.
Oil and natural gas are a vital source of income for Russia, accounting for 70 percent of the country’s exports and half of government revenues.
Oil prices have fallen by more than a third since the summer and Russia’s ruble currency has fallen by 40 percent this year.
Russia’s economy also is suffering from U.S. and EU sanctions imposed over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and RIA Novosti
In case you missed the news yesterday, The Interpreter carries a rundown of what we know so far about the murder of Ukrainian anticorruption activist Oleksandr Kostrenko:
Ukrainian authorities say two soldiers have been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours.
European Commission vice president Kristalina Georgieva is quoted by AFP as saying Russia's sudden announcement of a halt to the South Stream gas pipeline project highlights the need for the EU to find new energy sources.
"Russia's decision to stop South Stream and the way it was taken show why the diversification of the energy sources is important for Europe," Georgieva, whose native Bulgaria is at the heart of the dispute over the pipeline, told reporters. "The commission will closely examine the consequences of this decision and how we can speed up the interconnection of member states."
RFE/RL Ukrainian Service video of the protest yesterday in central Kyiv to demand justice for people beaten or killed by security forces during demonstrations against ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The protest played news reports from the time of the revolution over loudspeakers. Protesters said no one had been punished for the violence.
