From our newsroom:
Russia says it has formally complained to Lithuania that the Baltic country's supply of weapons to Ukraine violated its international arms trade commitments.
The Russian Embassy in Vilnius said on February 27 that the complaint was sent in a letter from the Russian Foreign Ministry to the Lithuanian Embassy in Moscow.
It said such supplies "represent a direct violation of Lithuania's legal commitments in the area of export of armaments."
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius denied his country had violated any agreements.
Lithuania has supplied weapons to Ukraine "in small quantities and openly," Linkevicius told Reuters.
He added that: "and yet we are reprimanded by the country that continually supplies arms to the conflict in Ukraine, in nonsymbolic quantities, and denies doing so."
Russia has been accused by NATO, Ukraine, the United States and numerous Western countries of supplying the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with weapons and even troops, charges that Moscow denies.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
That concludes our live blogging for Friday, February 27.
Coverage of the Nemtsov death has dominated from the region such that there was really very little news on Ukraine on Saturday, February 28.
So until Sunday, here's a wrap-up of the only major bit of news from Ukraine today:
Poroshenko: Nemtsov Killed Over Plan To Reveal Moscow LInks To Ukraine Conflict
Opening up the live blog this morning with the top of our news story on what happened yesterday and what's expected today:
Opposition supporters plan to march through Moscow on March 1 in memory of the slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.
Thousands of people laid flowers and lit candles on February 28 on a bridge near the Kremlin where the opposition politician and former deputy prime minister was shot dead late on February 27.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the killing as a "provocation", and told Nemtsov's mother that the killers would be found and punished.
But Nemtsov had said in an interview that he feared Putin may want him dead because of his criticism of Russia's role in Ukraine's separatist conflict.
Russia’s Investigative Committee says it is pursuing several lines of inquiry, including the possibility that Nemtsov may have been killed by radical Islamists as well as suggestions by Putin that his murder was a contract killing aimed at blackening the government's reputation.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Russian investigators had evidence that Nemtsov received threats “because of his position over the shooting of Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris.”
Markin also said: “The murder could be a provocation to destabilize the political situation in the country.”
He said: “Nemtsov could have been chosen as a sort of ‘sacral sacrifice’ by those who don’t hesitate to use any methods to reach their political goals.”
Markin said a possible link to the conflict in Ukraine also was being investigated, as well as possible motives linked to Nemtsov’s business interests or to his personal life.
All five potential motives announced by the Investigative Committee deflect blame placed on Putin and his government by Kremlin critics who say the Kremlin ultimately was responsible.
Today is a day of action and awareness for Nadia Savchenko, the Ukrainian military pilot who was captured by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine in June, then showed up in Russia in July in Russian custody. She is accused of having a part in the death of Russian journalists killed in Ukraine.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
